You’ve heard about Virginia’s mandatory ultrasound law (several other states have already passed ultrasound laws too), and you’ve heard about the “Personhood” bill that’s now being pushed in several states, but the Republican Party is also staging an attack on another front in their war on women’s rights.

In several states, the GOP is pushing legislation to force women seeking abortions to first get “counseling” at “pregnancy help centers” run by anti-choice ideologues.

In South Dakota, they also impose a 72-hour waiting period for no reason (except to inflict mental suffering and increase the cost of the procedure); their law is currently on hold due to a court challenge, but now a Republican Senate committee is trying to make it look a little more palatable by changing some of the requirements.

You see, the original bill requires doctors to inform women seeking abortions that it might drive them insane; the proposed changes would specify what “factors” the doctor is supposed to consider when determining whether a woman might go insane.

And those mandatory “pregnancy help centers” had no requirement to even have licensed counselors on staff; that’s right, they were trying to force women to discuss the most private issues of their lives with unlicensed religious fanatics.

Now they’re proposing that the religious fanatics be licensed. Big of them.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier suspended most provisions of the law from taking effect after ruling that Planned Parenthood had demonstrated that the law was likely unconstitutional.

“Forcing a woman to divulge to a stranger at a pregnancy help center the fact that she has chosen to undergo an abortion humiliates and degrades her as a human being,” the judge wrote.

The bill that’s in the Senate would specify what factors an abortion clinic doctor would consider when determining if a woman is at risk of developing mental health problems if she has an abortion. The measure also would require that the counseling sessions at pregnancy help centers be conducted by counselors, doctors, nurses and others who are licensed in their fields. That counseling is supposed to determine if a woman has been coerced into seeking an abortion.

Hunt said the bill merely cleans up language in last year’s law and clarifies the Legislature’s intent in passing the law.

Supporters of the bill said women seeking abortions need a chance to talk to counselors who can help them overcome pressure by parents, boyfriends or husbands who are urging them to get abortions. A counselor can explain alternatives, such as keeping the child or giving it up for adoption, they said.

But Sen. Jim Bradford, D-Pine Ridge, said he opposes both the law and the proposed changes because it interferes with a woman’s right to make her own decisions. He also said the Legislature should not be modifying the abortion law until the court challenge is decided.

Related:
S. Dakota Republicans Want to Legalize Killing Abortion Providers
The Real Reason for South Dakota’s Anti-Abortion ‘3-Day Wait’ Law