Rick Perry Signs Mandatory Sonogram Bill, Center for Reproductive Rights Retaliates

Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill on Tuesday that would force Texas women to undergo an ultrasound, hear a detailed description of the fetus and then wait a full 24 hours before receiving abortion care.

Mandatory sonogram bills, which NARAL Pro-Choice America calls "one of the most dangerous anti-choice state trends in 2011," have been introduced in 14 states so far this year. Arizona, Louisiana and Texas have already enacted ultrasound laws, and Gov. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is expected to sign a similar proposal in the coming week.

The Texas law -- which is one of the more most extreme sonogram proposals that has passed -- requires doctors to tell a woman the size of her fetus' limbs and organs, even if she does not want to know. The law also forces physicians to make an image of the fetus and the sound of its heartbeat available to a woman before she can undergo the abortion procedure.

Perry, who made the bill an emergency measure, said on Tuesday that the law will "ensure that every Texas woman seeking an abortion has all the facts about the life she is carrying and understands the devastating impact of such a life-changing decision."

But an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights said the legislation violates standard medical ethics and "treats women as too immature and incompetent" to make these decisions on their own.

"This law is extreme and patronizing to women in a variety of ways," Bebe Anderson, senior counsel for CRR, told HuffPost. "It hijacks the doctor-patient relationship, assumes what a woman must know to make a decision and forces doctors to say things to their patients that they otherwise shouldn't and wouldn't."

CRR is fighting against similar legislation in Oklahoma. The group was granted a preliminary injunction to block the law there, and Anderson says it is in the beginning stages of preparing a challenge to the Texas law.

"Informed consent is supposed to be about medical risk," she said. "Pregnant women are already aware that they're carrying a fetus."

Comments

[sfontaine2010]

09:07 AM on 06/20/2011

I knew you didn't have the guts to publish my comments. God forbid someone disagrees with you....

[JoyceBains]

07:17 PM on 06/17/2011

Does this whole "forced sonogram" thing even WORK? Has there been any proof whatsoever that it has or will lower the abortion rate?

[Ladd Whitworth]

03:55 PM on 06/08/2011

Since this is a mandatory medical procedure, does the State of Texas HAVE to pay for it? Then if the sonogram shows that the birth of this fetus needs to be terminated then will Texas refer her to a doctor to procede with the termination?

[meanica]

06:41 PM on 05/31/2011

If they're going to try and make it harder and harder for women to have an abortion, then they better make it easier and easier for people to get health insurance for the kids.

[builderman55]

10:36 PM on 05/30/2011

Another rich, white male sticking his head between womens' legs, not to mention her personal prerogatives...

[cglennon01]

09:12 PM on 05/29/2011

Rick Perry is an idiot! This bill is misogyny in its biggest form.....and it undermines women's intelligence and totally takes control away from them and from making THEIR OWN choices!!! Havent women fought hard enough for equality??? This is going back to the start!!! It frustrates me that men in congress feel they have to control womens issues!!! Its our body...leave us alone to make the decisions that are right for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY is this man even in government let alone running our state of Texas????

[Gene Corpus]

07:45 PM on 05/28/2011

I TOOK A LOOK AT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WHO ARE TRYING TO DRAFT RICK PERRY FOR PRESIDENT.....AND THAT REMINDED ME OF SOMETHING THAT JUST SHOCKED ME ON THE INTELLIGENCE LEVEL.....OF THE DESPERATION OF THAT PARTY.....INSTEAD OF LOOKING AT THE ONLY VIABLE CANDIDATE WHO IS THE ONLY TRUE CONSERVATIVE IN THAT PARTY.........WHICH IS RON PAUL....ONLY AN IDIOT WOULD VOTE FOR A PERSON BASED UPON THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE...WHETHER HE HAS THAT PRESIDENTIAL LOOK...OR......THAT STRONG LOOKING PHYSIQUE.....THAT HANDSOME LOOK OF MASCULINITY...AND WHERE HIS SUIT FITS HIM FULLY BECAUSE HIS PHYSICAL BODY IS FILLED OUT........IF THAT IS HOW YOU VOTE....BECAUSE HE IS BLACK.....OR BECAUSE HE IS WHITE....OR BECAUSE HE IS A DEMOCRAT...OR BECAUSE HE IS A REPUBLICAN......THAT ALONE PROVES YOUR LINE OF SIGHT IS ONLY LIMITED TO THE SKIN...WHICH IS ONLY SHALLOW AND SKIN DEEP.....IF YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE WERE A PATCH UPON YOUR UPPER SLEEVES LIKE A MEDAL OF HONOR.....THEN YOU SHOULD STAND STILL....WHILE THE REST OF US....TAKE TURNS... AS YOUR MEDALS ARE RIPPED AND TORN AWAY FROM YOU.....AND FROM YOUR SLEEVES.....IN DISGRACE....AND IN STUPIDITY......YOU SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO VOTE....FOR SIMPLY BEING AN IDIOT.....

[junkyarddog2]

03:31 PM on 05/28/2011

It has nothing to do with "educating pregnant women". It is - plainly - a device to make women feel guilty about making a decision THEY HAVE A LEGAL RIGHT TO! More proof that the Republican Party only wants government large enough to fit in your womb.

[debnran]

11:49 AM on 05/28/2011

We are moving closer and closer to the same sort of government that we went into Afghanistan to remove - a radical religious based goverment. The Taliban governed every part of a woman's life from her conception to her death. If a man raped a 14 year old, she was killed because she committed adultery, while he was only whipped. Even if, by a miracle, she would escape death by the religious police, her own family would kill her because their honor was besmerched. Yes, we don't have Sharia law, but we are coming up on it every time we allow someone to impose his morality without it being voted on and by voting religious zealots into office.

[Eileenla]

07:20 AM on 05/31/2011

It's often said that we create what we most fear. We seem to fear fascism and totalitarianism, and are creating that within our borders to "protect" ourselves from it's invasion from without. We fear religious fanaticism and are creating that for ourselves by allowing the "enemies" of external fanatics within our borders (fanatics themselves) to gain political traction. We fear deprivation, and are creating that through our unreasonable
obsession with money over the needs and welfare of life itself. Maybe it's time we stopped being afraid and instead did what is right for us all.

[ShinjiIkari]

07:57 AM on 05/31/2011

Here's a question. The bill was created for the sole purpose of trying to talk women out of abortions. If the sonogram actually uncovers a reason why an abortion may be medically necessary--for example, an ectopic pregnancy--does the OB/GYN have to tell the patient?

[Christine Perez]

11:44 PM on 05/26/2011

I bet if Perry had a uterus he wouldn't have passed this $#%@ law! Easy for someone with "testicles" to do this. Now we will probably see an increase in people either killing these babies and leaving them for others to find like in a dumpster or bathroom somewhere, because they fear having to get the sonogram. You know....it wasn't enough for Perry to pass the law for young girls to have to get the HPV vaccine he had to go one step further and make it mandatory to have a sonogram before terminating a pregnancy. Maybe he should have been born with a vagina and then maybe he would think twice before showing what a sexist he is. I'm glad I didn't vote for him!

[PlanetSpinz]

07:32 PM on 05/26/2011

Does anyone know how this law will be enforced? What will happen if a woman refuses to have the ultrasound, will she be strapped down, stripped and forced to have that procedure? What if she refuses to look at the ultrasound pictures, will her eyelids be taped up and her head screwed into a chair and she will be forced to look at the pictures. What if she refuses to hear the description? Will she be held down and forced to listen?

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

11:15 PM on 05/26/2011

Probably. If Rick has his way. Unscrupulous basteeeeard.

[LeeCalif]

11:54 PM on 05/26/2011

Planet ..........

" Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill on Tuesday that would force Texas women .....
FORCE / There's your answer.

[Peggy Stephan]

05:01 PM on 05/26/2011

lets be clear no wants an abortion but there are teens as young as twelve,mothers living in poverty,crack heads and heroin addicts and just plain sick women and unsual circumstance who cant provide care for a baby--so Repubicans , when u have in the bill that u will pay all medical bills for the child and mother, raise the child for 18 years and provide love, education and the things that a child needs then place ur bill out there--other wise shut the Hell UP!!!!---Republicans are the ones who dont want welfare and programs so what becomes of these unwanted children-they go to live in crack houses and poverty and a big percentage grow up to be placed in our jails and prisons---Not every one lives in a perfect enviroment its not up to the
Republicans to judge or take control of others decisions!!!!!!!!!

[Upjohn252]

03:48 PM on 05/26/2011

Unfortunately Americans NEVER learn, and as long as the gullible, dimwitted and religious fanatics keep voting Republican this will continue to happen so you might as well quit bitchin.

[JustABriefThought]

03:20 PM on 05/26/2011

Why are Republican'ts OBSESSED with the women's uteruses? If they spent that much time thinking about how to create JOBS, the unemployment situation would disappear. Maybe they should think about aborting the subsidies for Big Oil. Perhaps they could spend time thinking about aborting incentives to Intl corporations to move our jobs overseas to countries where workers make an average of $4,200 a year and have no OSHA, no benefits. There's a lot of stuff that's broken here folks; leave the stuff that already got fixed alone.

[dustyoh]

06:17 PM on 05/26/2011

Next there will be a bill to say that a woman has to be waterboarded before an abortion to see if she really thinks its that important. They're sick.

[Nukualofa]

02:58 PM on 05/26/2011

Now every woman that has a little gas should go in and get a free sonagram. Overwhelm the system.