Legislation may be passed in South Carolina that would require women to view ultrasound images of their fetuses before they decide to have abortions. The bill still has to be approved by both the House and Senate of the South Carolina state legislature before it can pass into law. The story was originally printed by MSNBC on March 22.
According to the article, “Some states make ultrasound images available to women before an abortion, but South Carolina would be alone in requiring women to view the pictures.”
Personally, I feel that this is a huge violation to a woman’s right over her body and could be just another step closer to the overturn of Roe v. Wade. It is already a very stressful situation for a woman to be in an abortion clinic and be making that life-changing decision. To be forced to view pictures of her unborn fetus would just add to the emotionaland physical distress the woman is already feeling.
What if a woman saw the ultrasound and decided to keep the baby, but then decided that she had only kept the child because she felt pressured by the doctor?
Carrying a baby to full term also causes a lot of stress and permanent physical change for the woman. What if she is going through her pregnancy alone and has no means of support financially or emotionally? How can we expect a woman to take maternity leave from her job and risk her financial stability so that she can carry that child?
I am not saying that a woman who does decide to carry a child to full term and then give it up for adoption should be condemned, but I believe that it should be the woman’s choice alone, without any other outside pressures.
According to the article, “the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Greg Delleney, a Republican, said the measure would save lives and a lifetime of regret for some women.”
“She can determine for herself whether she is carrying an unborn child deserving of protection or whether it’s just an inconvenient, unnecessary part of her body and an abortion fits her circumstances at that time,” Delleney told NBC affiliate WIS-TV of Columbia.
Don’t you love how Delleney portrays women as heartless creatures?
In related news, Michigan just signed a bill that would offer the chance for women to view the ultrasound before the abortion, but it would be completely optional and completely the woman’s choice.
A woman shouldn’t be forced to view pictures of anything she doesn’t wish to see, let alone the fetus of the pregnancy she is about to terminate.
What are we going to force women to do next? View the actual fetus after it is aborted? Most women get abortions in the first trimester, when terminating the pregnancy is little more than a miscarriage and is usually not the full-blown baby-killing surgery that it is made out to be.
Women must be allowed to make decisions about their own bodies alone and I don’t think Big Brother should be placing himself in our own private lives.
Brigid McGuire is a senior journalism major.
