North Carolina’s Abortion Law Just Got Crazier
The battle over abortion rights continues in North Carolina, where state law now requires doctors to send the ultrasounds of women seeking abortions to state officials. Depending on whom you talk to, this is either a gross intimidation tactic by the state or a necessary practice to verify that clinics are complying with a previously enacted state law that bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Per The New York Times, doctors who perform abortions at or after the 16-week mark must send North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services “the method used to determine the ‘probable gestational age’ of the fetus, the measurements used to support the assertion and, most controversially, an ultrasound showing the measurements.” The law states that this information is being collected for “statistical purposes only,” and that patients’ and doctors’ names will remain confidential.