World Mag

Kentucky, the Senate passed legislation Monday that would require doctors “to show a woman an ultrasound image of her fetus and explain how it is developing before performing an abortion.”

By an overwhelming vote of 32-4, Senate Bill 38 encountered no difficulty passing in the Senate. However, the fight for the bill begins in earnest now that it moves to the Kentucky House, where similar bills have died in committee in the past.

We can hope that this bill finds support among legislators in the Kentucky House, and passes into law. As the main sponsor of the bill, Sen. Elizabeth Tori, R-Elizabethtown said, “This bill rights a wrong. An ultrasound is nothing more than an X-ray in motion.”

Here is an excerpt from the bill itself:

(1) Prior to a woman giving informed consent to having any part of an abortion performed, the physician who is to perform the abortion or a certified technician working in conjunction with the physician shall:

(a)        Perform an obstetric ultrasound on the pregnant woman;

(b)        Provide a simultaneous explanation of what the ultrasound is depicting, which shall include the presence and location of the unborn child within the uterus and the number of unborn children depicted and also, if the ultrasound image indicates that fetal demise has occurred, inform the woman of that fact;

(c)        Display the ultrasound images so that the pregnant woman may view them; and

(d)        Provide a medical description of the ultrasound images, which shall include the dimensions of the embryo or fetus and the presence of external members and internal organs, if present and viewable.

(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent a pregnant woman from averting her eyes from the ultrasound images required to be provided to and reviewed with her. Neither the physician, technician, nor the pregnant woman shall be subject to any penalty if the pregnant woman refuses to look at the presented ultrasound images