re: #319 Obdicut

That sonogram law is utter fucking bullshit. It’s just being assholes to women.

Upding given. Thank you for pointing that out.

It stinks to high heaven. I wish I’d checked up on that prop myself, earlier. There have been several similar laws in other states, at least some of which have even specified a script for the doctor to follow, and I think this old article states it well:

But what if a woman doesn’t want an ultrasound, and there’s no pressing clinical reason for her to have it? Four states—Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma—have taken the galling step of requiring her to have one regardless of need. They recently passed laws that go beyond offering ultrasounds to mandating them. Oklahoma’s new statute dictates that either the doctor performing the abortion or a “certified technician working in conjunction” with that doctor do the ultrasound, “provide a simultaneous explanation of what the ultrasound is depicting,” and also “display the ultrasound images so that the pregnant woman may view them.” The law goes so far as to specify the doctor’s script: The physician must describe the heartbeat and the presence of internal organs, fingers, and toes. The patient then has to certify in writing that the doctor or technician duly did all of this before the abortion. She can avert her eyes from the screen, the statute allows. Maybe the legislators should have also thought to mention putting her hands over her ears.