US governor tells women “you just have to close your eyes” before mandatory ultrasound
Emine Dilek
WVoN co-editor
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has some advice for women who don’t want to have a mandatory ultrasound before they terminate their pregnancy:
“You just have to close your eyes. As long as it’s on the exterior and not the interior.”
This year alone, in the USA, over 10 states have passed or been working on bills forcing women to receive an ultrasound before having an abortion.
The only objective of these bills is to wholly restrict American women’s constitutionally-protected right to abortion.
They also block women’s ability to make their own decisions about their reproductive health by placing the government in between a woman and her doctor.
The Women’s Right to Know Act, as the Pennsylvania bill is dubbed, would require women seeking an abortion to get an ultrasound within 24 hours of undergoing the procedure.
No financial support for these ultrasounds – which could cost over $300 in some cases – is being offered to women seeking an abortion.
A legislative representative from The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU-PA) said: “The governor’s statement shows a lack of understanding of medicine and women’s reproductive health issues.”
The ACLU-PA is opposed to the bill becoming law.
The bill is on hold in the State House this week because medical associations have voiced concerns about the measure.
According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, 48 per cent of Pennsylvania voters oppose the ultrasound bill with 42 per cent in favour, and 64 per cent of voters oppose requiring transvaginal ultrasounds.
Hey governor leave us women alone!
It is extraordinary to watch from the outside the madness of American politics. This is an invasion of privacy akin to the virginity tests carried out in Egypt. Privacy is a constitutional right, the right upon which Roe v Wade was grounded. Our politicians in the UK may be a feeble and sometimes dangerous crowd, but can anyone imagine them suggesting such a thing?
There is no other point to these ultrasounds except to humiliate and guilt the woman seeking a termination. I hope the doctors stand up to the State Govts and refuse to perform them.