"Doonesbury" Takes on Mandatory Ultrasounds

My comment probably won't get in, but having a transvaginal ultrasound is already standard procedure for an abortion. As well as sticking other sharp and blunt objects into a woman's vagina during an abortion. The legislation just says that the woman should be offered to view the ultrasound prior to the abortion- not that its even mandatory that she views- but that she is offered. You get to see your teeth x-rays prior to dental work, why wouldn't you be offered to see your uterine contents prior to your surgical procedure? Why is there shame in that? I don't feel shame looking at my teeth x-rays. Are you admitting there is something to be ashamed of?

Katie,
Vaginal ultrasounds are not standard procedures for abortions, and the VA, TX, OH, etc. bills do not "offer" it to a woman, as you say, but require it. A woman's choice to terminate her pregnancy is never an easy one, regardless of circumstances. The legislature becoming involved in such a personal decision is wrong. You've obviously never had to make that choice, nor have any of the (predominantly) white, middle-upper-class men that proposition it. I respect your right to your opinion, but be more informed on the issue before just responding emotionally.

And to Garry Trudeau I say Thank you.

My comment probably won't get in...

I don't believe that a blog that is explicitly "for choice" engages in censorship and stifling dissent. Had you really thought your comment wouldn't get in, you wouldn't have commented. Therefore, Katie, I presume that your snide remark was to set the tone of the rest of your message.

...having a transvaginal ultrasound is already standard procedure for an abortion.

Most abortions take place in the first trimester of pregnancy. Therefore, for medical reasons, many of these ultrasonograms are performed with a transvaginal probe, an effective method for viewing early-stage pregnancies; it is a useful and common tool that helps providers perform abortions safely and well. However, the decision to perform an ultrasound and the method of choice are a matter between the patient and her physician, who takes into account the patient’s medical history, and the patient's choice. If you understand the highlighted concepts, you'd agree that this concerns the patient's health, and her health only. No government, no legislation, no State Mandate should ever come into the picture.

Of course, you know as well as I do, that these legislative efforts on part of the anti-choice, anti-woman Republican party are just instruments of intimidation and shaming women who ask for an abortion. These ultrasound mandates, the requirements for a mandatory wait-period, for the so-called pre-abortion counselling, in addition to outright lies about 'long term health risks' following abortion - none of these are supported medically as a necessity, and these requirements only represent attempts to impose a particular religious ideology on women without their consent. This right-wing hypocrisy, as mouthed by you, Katie, becomes patent when the GOP-controlled States mandate 'pre-abortion counseling' even in instances where the pregnant woman has been raped or has a fetus with a severe anomaly.

Yes, the Pro-Choice groups have ratcheted up the rhetoric, and yes, the comparison of an extant procedure (such as transvaginal USG) to rape may not be completely warranted prima facie. But if anyone is to blame for this stridency on part of the Pro-Choice groups, it is the anti-choice misogynists that have come to represent the Republican party. A transvaginal medical procedure is not rape when it is done with the patient's consent and understanding. But that's not what the above-mentioned mandates and requirements are designed to do. They are designed to intimidate, violate a woman's private and emotional boundaries, play with her mind through lies and misinformations, and if the pregnancy is the result of abuse, take her through that cycle again - and all for what? To satisfy some right-wing ideologs' fantasies. In this, at least, the rape analogy seems justified.

Yes Katie most abortions do require an ultrasound, in order to prove that there is a pregnancy in the first place. However, they are not all transvaginal.

I was at 7 weeks, and had a standard abdominal ultrasound. As far as what was inserted into me during the procedure, at no time was it a blunt or sharp object.

In NY, they don't even let you see the sonogram image unless you ask to. The counseling provided asks very simply and straightforward: Are you making this decision on your own accord? Did anyone force you into this choice?

Women know what they're doing when it comes to an abortion. They go in pregnant, they come out not. It's not even comparable to a dental x-ray. When my dentist shows me a x-ray of my teeth, it's to show me a cavity, to let me know where and how big it is, and to decide when to get it filled.

I don't need to see a sonogram, have details of the embryo explained to me, to know what I want to do next.

By making a woman listen to all that, and then go home and think about it for 24 hours, it's like putting her in a time out. "Now go home and think about what you're doing!" If she's there, she already thought about it. It's a simple shaming tactic. Per this legislation, it's not an OFFER to see the images, it's a REQUIREMENT.

Mandatory and required are the key words here. Privacy between a woman and her medical decisions are what are important. Many of us are very clear of what we are doing when we go in there it is an extremely difficult decision. For me personally it has been the most immoral thing I have ever done. On the other hand it was the right decision as hard as it was and is. We need to be educated and informed but we ride enough of our own shame and do not need it from politicians and most definately not from our medical professionals. Being informed of the development of the fetus, informed of all our options, and most importanly left to our own personal right to choose.

Zombie Logic Press Webcomics addressed this two weeks ago with their strip Single Zombie Female. But that's a feminist webcomic that's way ahead of the curve. One of the advantages of being a DIY artist is that no one can tell you what to do. http://zombielogicblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/single-zombie-female-on-transvaginal.html

Medical provider to Patient relationship is not where politics belong. The emotional manipulation involved in providing two ultrasound images and being told to "just close your eyes" when the fetus images are viewed, does not have the patients welfare and safety as a priority.

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