For Abortion Providers, Sonogram Law is a Complication
Moments after Amy Hagstrom Miller heard the news — that a panel of federal judges had directed Texas to immediately enforce the most controversial tenet of the state’s new abortion sonogram law — her phone started ringing off the hook. It was the doctors who perform abortions at the five Whole Woman’s Health clinics she founded in Texas, confirming that they must start playing the fetal heartbeat and showing the image of the fetus to their pregnant patients.
For Hagstrom Miller and many abortion and women’s health providers statewide, performing these sonogram-related actions is an affront — to patients who ...
Comments (28)
Caitlin Gilchrist
The sheer arrogance of the "pro-life" idiots is beyond me. "Mild inconveniences?" I would love to see you try to walk a mile in the shoes of these women.
Bill Asher
Have they scanned Perry's brain. I'm sure it would look like a fresh steaming pile of dung.
audrey fisher
The forced birth zealots will soon find that when they go their physician, their own privacy will be invaded and the so-called moralists, who are mostly men - will just shrug.
It should be noted that Congress is trying to pass legislation where it is illegal to transport their own child to another state that does provide safe pregnancy termination.
Forced birther's will tell you that they "are concerned" about prenatal life- but these same legislator's don't care about antenatal life as they also want to allow healthcare insurance provider's free rein, don't care about safety of food products (why should we worry about GMO milk - it's good for the economy, who cares about health). Protect unborn - past that, you are on your own. Then if the infant dies, off to the private prison paid for by you, the taxpayer.
Doug Daluga via Texas Tribune on Facebook
There's your party of small governmant in action.
patricia bird
Drinking, over the age of 21 is legal also...how about when bubba/bubbett goes to purchase alcohol, we have a representative of AA there to instruct them on the evils of alcohol, and then we can show them films what alcohol does to your liver, we can handle them literature and tell them if they really want this, they can return in 24 hours - after they go home and have a discussion with their family, and when they return, we can go through their vehicle and make sure there are no used alcohol containers, and then instruct them they have to have a family member, in a separate car, follow them home so the State of TX can make sure that they are not going to pop the top prior to entering their driveway....
DWI's are the leading cause of highway deaths in this State. If we actually were concerned about saving lives, we would just put an evangelical in each home to insure we are all conducting our lives the way THEY feel is proper....
Tiffany Sparks
This way the forced-pregnancy crowd can have two days to harrass the women.
If they cared about life then they would be screaming for the government to send more money to poor nations where real children who are loved and wanted by their parents are starving to death every day.
Corbin Black via Texas Tribune on Facebook
So government shouldn't be in my pocket book or in a women's body yet they sure do seem to show up in those areas alot
Hillary-Anne Crosby via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Or the sonogram law underestimates the capability of women to make their own decisions about their own bodies.
Brenda K Gunter via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Paternalistic is right. It applies to people in Texas Right to Life (there's an oxymoron) who invade the privacy of women at the most vulnerable point in their lives. Then, just like many a babydaddy, they're gone once the fetus becomes a person in need of food, shelter, and health care.
Kim Burkett via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Note the state REQUIRES a "transvaginal sonogram." See the picture? The tool used is the long one on the right. If that isn't the ultimate in government intrusion (literally), then I don't know what is. Would the male legislators agree to such a device used to check their prostate (for their own good and education, of course) at the behest of the state of Texas? Don't worry, they'll use a condom.
Terri Russo Daugherty via Texas Tribune on Facebook
why cant a technician perforn the ultrasound lik ein any other procedure? it is an insul tto the medical professionals who are seen a perfectly capable of performing an ultrasound for a GI or appendix or galbladder , but not for this? it HAS to be a Doctor? That is riduculous.
Brenda K Gunter via Texas Tribune on Facebook
There is something wrong when legislators are allowed to make decisions that should be left up to physicians and clinics. Surgeons don't perform their own diagnostic tests in any other field.
Tim Hurst via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It is a woman's decision. Period.
Renee E. Babcock via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The only paternalistic attitude I see is the one coming from the smugly self-righteous anti-choice crowd that is presupposing a woman isn't making an informed decision to begin with.
Anya Khan
Foro the truly stupid here...there is no "forced pregnancy".. They are already pregnant. No one forced them to get that way. They chose to. They mede the decision to ignore all kinds of available birth control. No one is forced to get pregnant. The mothers need full discloser of whom it is they are going to kill before they commit the murder.
Caitlin Gilchrist
@Anya: Rape victims don't choose to get pregnant. Most people seeking an abortion didn't choose to get pregnant; the pregnancy was a result of assault or a failure of contraception (including failure to use contraception). Having sex does not mean you agree to carry a possible pregnancy to term. Having sex just means having sex. Insisting a pregnant person carry the baby to term *is* forcing the pregnancy on her. She doesn't want to be pregnant, but she is not allowed to end the pregnancy...so what else would you call it? And contrary to popular pro-life beliefs, the vast vast majority of women seeking an abortion know full well what they are doing. 60% of them already have kids. They know exactly what it is they are carrying and what an abortion does. This bill adds absolutely nothing to their knowledge.
Anya Khan
Caitlin you are either a liar or severely misinformed. The percentage of rapes that result in pregnancy is actually at or around 5% And beforeyou lie any further, I have been and sexual assualt victim advocate for almost 10 years. the bill lets mothers hear the hearth beat of the chlld they are going to slaughter.
patricia bird
Anya Khan - there is no "forced pregnancy
like most on the Right - you bulb is a tad dim...ask any rape victim who finds themselves pregnant, or a pre-teen who is a victim of sexual abuse or incest if they PLANNED their pregnancy...and before you said it would be a privilege for them to carry the child to term, you and yours don't want anything to do with this kid once it is born and are the first at the line with pickets asking the state to enforce the death penalty or send our kids to war...
i hope you are never a victim of rape or incest or any member of your family or friends...and if you keep being so pious on this subject - bear in mind that in some states, the rapist has the right to have visitation rights with the child...
and for the record - there is no forced pregnancy...it is a LEGAL medical procedure...and your group of enforcers are bring laws before the voters that would outlaw the "pill" or any form of birth control...what you want is the absolute right to tell another human being to act...and that is none of your business...
don't want an abortion; don't have one. but don't stand in front of an abortion clinic and act so pius...most of those in the anti-abortion movement are ones who have had an abortion up to and including mr. santorum's wife...nice that they felt they were allowed this right and yet now want to prevent another from having one...
keep your own counsel and your own house in order...as most of these do-gooders are finding out, their houses are made of glass and a lot of people are now getting to see some really ugly stuff going on...
and as i said - alcohol kills more folks in this state than abortion...so take your group and see how well it flies to try and intimidate some men...versus very vulnerable women...i can think of nothing more despicable than shouting and screaming at a woman making this choice - make sure your own kids don't have to go through this...most of those kids wearing the purity rings, as a poll found out, are having just as much sex as the ones not wearing one
patricia bird
Anya Khan - i'll call you on that since i work in the criminal justice arena with sex offenders...so tell us where you are an advocate - but stop using terms such as "liar"....
and I would imagine the only place you are advocating for the mother is at an anti-abortion place, such as the White Rose, in Dallas - these places sprung up to masquerade as abortion facilities when in truth are anything but....
when you use phrases like -"the bill lets mothers hear the hearth beat of the chlld they are going to slaughter", you already announce who you are - one of those folks who stand outside of planned parenthood with signs, screaming and yelling at the women...
i would have more respect for you if you were there with a check to pay the mother to keep the child from infancy to majority...but you're not...i would be on your side if your and yours had announced to the citizens of the U.S. that you went to every adoption agency and every foster home and found loving permanent homes for these kids - but you don't...
y'all only know how to intimidate women and that frankly screams cowardice....find all the kids today warm, loving, permanent homes and then i'll listen to your side...
but stop with the name calling - liar...it is frankly the anti-abortion group, filled with women who have had an abortion, who are liars - how fortunate that they "saw the light" after their procedure was over...might they now allow others the same courtesy of figuring this out for themselves...
Caitlin Gilchrist
@Anya: I never claimed the majority of abortions were ending a pregnancy that resulted from rape, I was merely refuting your claim that there are no such things as forced pregnancies. This bill lets the mother hear the heartbeat and see the image of the fetus they are about to terminate. Every single person seeking an abortion knows full well what they are doing. They know the fetus has a heart, and they know what it looks like. Most of them have been pregnant at least once already. This bill does nothing but attempt to intimidate them out of what is a very serious, very personal decision. And as this article says, it's not working. So what on earth is the point?
Mimi Purnell via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Give a donation to #Planned Parenthood in Ms. Graham's name today!
Beverly Nuckols
The whole article is based on lies that contradict the text of the law as well as Judge Sam Sparks' comments from his overturned ruling. Smith and Ramshaw, these are simple matters of fact, easily checked. Even Sparks understood them. I'm writing on the lies at WingRight, will publish Monday.
Beverly Nuckols via Texas Tribune on Facebook
There's no mandate for transvaginal sonogram, and the doc doesn't have to perform it himself. The whole article is based on lies contradicting the text of the law as well as Judge Sam Sparks' comments from his overturned ruling. Smith and Ramshaw, these are simple matters of fact, easily checked. Even Sparks understood them. I'm writing on the lies at WingRight, will publish Monday.
Caitlin Gilchrist via Texas Tribune on Facebook
@Beverly: The bill doesn't mention transvaginal sonograms, no, but in early pregnancies that's how sonograms are taken. The fetus is too small for the "jelly on the belly" type of sonogram to work. I.e. since the law requires that a sonogram MUST be taken, in many cases it MUST be taken transvaginally, ergo the law mandates the use of transvaginal sonograms.
Beverly Nuckols via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I'm a physician and understand the difficulty and requirements. As I'm sure Ms. Ramshaw does. The "forced transvaginal" meme is false, as is the claim that the doctor must perform the ultrasound and the implication that the 24 hour wait is new. BTW, If the child is too small for an external pelvic sonogram, he or she is an embryo.
Caitlin Gilchrist via Texas Tribune on Facebook
How is the "forced transvaginal meme" false? As I just said, and you seemed to agree, if it's too early in the pregnancy a transvaginal sonogram is the only viable option, and since the law requires that a sonogram be taken whether or not the woman wants one, the transvaginal sonogram is forced on her. She has no choice in the matter.
audrey fisher
Anya K's argument that there is no forced pregnancy, as it is a choice. Taking that to it's logical conclusion, that no one should be allowed medical treatment for any adverse medical intervention because it was all derived from CHOICE.
Type II diabetes: you chose to be unhealthy.
Car accident: you chose to drive
Cancer: you chose a bad lifestyle
Home invasion / robbery: you chose where to live and fill it with expensive stuff.
Abuse: you chose your partner
Rape: you chose to behave in such a manner that attracted a rapist
Sex abuse from family: you chose your family
Medical Intervention failure: you chose the intervention, so it is your fault.
This is the ultra example of extreme: you and you alone are responsible for everything that happens and there should be no recourse but to deal with.
Also missing within this discussion is that many women, who do not use Planned Parenthood are also required to this same treatment. When you co-pay and health cost go up because of the extra time and appointments in order to terminate a pregnancy - complaints should be directed to the State Legislature, not the healthcare provider.
patricia bird
i asked my physician to explain the difference between the types of sonograms...he said that in order to detect and see the fetus at its very early stages, a transvaginal scan is used; however, it could harm the baby, and should only be used in extreme cases...
Transvaginal Scans: Specially designed probe transducers are used inside the vagina to generate sonogram images. Most often used during the early stages of pregnancy.
how special...the republicans want government out of your life, unless they can shrink it down to the size of a probe where they will insert it and themselves into your private decisions....
i hope every woman having to endure this procedure will file suit of harassment, harm, trauma against Elizabeth Graham, director of Texas Right to Life, and her ilk. maybe if they have to fend off lawsuits on an hourly basis, they won't have time to but into the lives of folks they don't know