Planned Parenthood: Pre-Abortion Ultrasounds “Abhorrent”Planned Parenthood has a response to the federal appeals court decision allowing Texas women a chance to see an ultrasound of their baby before an abortion. They call it “abhorrent.”
Writing for the court, Chief Judge Edith Jones was frank about the other side’s failure “to demonstrate constitutional flaws with the law,” which requires women to have a sonogram 24 hours before an abortion. Judge Jones said the state has “legitimate interests in protecting the potential life within her.”
“Denying her up-to-date medical information,” Jones wrote, “is more of an abuse to her ability to decide than providing the information.”
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement that the Fifth Circuit ruling “sets an abhorrent precedent” as other states prepared to consider similar laws to help women receive factual information about their baby and his or her development before making a life or death decision to have an abortion.
What Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council finds abhorrent is Richards’ reaction to the ruling.
“Her organization recognizes that the biggest weapon in the abortion debate is the ultrasound machine,” Perkins said. “For thousands of women, this window into the womb is the only persuasion they need to reconsider abortion. And, as Richards’s group has proved, pro-abortion activists will do everything in their power to stop mothers from recognizing the personhood of their unborn babies.”
“This is a country where Americans can’t even play paintball without signing a paper acknowledging the risks. How does it possibly make sense to let women undergo a major surgical procedure without giving them all the facts?” he said. “The media may be calling it a victory for pro-lifers, but in this case, women and their babies are the real winners. While Texans still have the right to “choose,” at least they’ll finally know what they’re choosing.”
Care Net President Melinda Delahoyde, the head of a network of pregnancy centers that provide women with abortion alternatives, agreed.
She said the court’s decision “affirms that women deserve full and accurate information about their pregnancy before they consent to an abortion. Once again, abortion providers tipped their hand by arguing that they alone should determine the level of information provided to a woman prior to an elective abortion.”
Delahoyde added: “Texas’s informed consent law ensures that abortion providers allow women the time and medical information necessary to make a truly informed pregnancy decision. When women have the opportunity to see their baby on ultrasound, learn about fetal development and understand the medical risks of abortion, they often find the courage to choose life. Care Net applauds the 5th Circuit for a decision that respects women and respects life.”
Dr. Sandy Christiansen, Medical Consultant for Care Net added: “Informed consent is one of the tenets of sound medical practice. Medical science has supplied the “window to the womb” in ultrasound. I can think of no better tool than ultrasound to provide a woman with critical knowledge as she makes a life changing decision.”
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/01/11/planned-parenthood-pre-abortion-ultrasounds-abhorrent/
