The American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, the Humanist Society of Rhode Island, Rhode Island Medical Society, Brown Medical Students for Choice and even the erroneously named and highly misleading ‘Catholics for Choice’ all turned out to stop the so-called “War on Women” at last week’s R.I. House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on legislation concerning women and unborn children.
The signature piece of legislation drawing the ire of those who favor abortion on demand was Rep. Karen Macbeth’s (D-Cumberland) Ultrasound Informed Consent bill. Of course those who call such important pro-life legislation as part of the so-called “War on Women” failed to mention the two pro-life bills were sponsored by women and dozens of women came forward to testify in support of these bills especially, Rep. MacBeth’s Ultrasound bill. Rep. MacBeth also offered passionate testimony on her bill from her experience 18 years ago as a young mother, newly single and laid off from her teaching job as she tried to find helpful information needed to eventually give birth to healthy twins.
This bill simply requires that a woman seeking an aborrtion be offered by the physician who is to perform the abortion, the referring physician, or another qualified person working in conjunction with either physician, the opportunity to receive and view an ultrasound of her baby. This requirement is far from radical, considering that most medical professionals operating in the abortion industry already perform ultrasounds before every abortion. The state’s leading abortionist, the notorious Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, recently admitted that he and other abortionists use an ultrasound to accurately target the unborn child they intend to kill through surgical abortion.
Ultrasounds are used to assist doctors and protect the health and welfare of patients, they can rule out an ectopic pregnancy, and allow the medical professional to examine the child and his or her location and help to more accurately calculate gestational age. Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood and their culture of death allies only want them used to accurately kill unborn children as they seek to hide from the mother on the operating table the truth that an unborn child is human – a human with a beating heart at week three, according to National Right to Life.
These radical promoters of death know full well that ultrasounds support the important medical principle of informed choice and that medical evidence indicates that women feel bonded to their children after seeing them on the ultrasound screen. This bill allows a woman considering an abortion the option to see her unborn child and the heartbeat of her flesh and blood. It supports a woman’s physical and psychological health and advances the states’ important and legitimate interest in protecting life — especially the most vulnerable, the unborn child.
We as Catholics committed to the culture of life must applaud Rep. Karen Macbeth, Rep. Deborah Fellela (D-Johnston) and other pro-life legislators for their courage to promote this fundamental human rights issue for our nation and our state. Rep. Macbeth’s Ultrasound bill is a concrete, effective step that Rhode Island can take to protect women’s health and protect the unborn. In the end, this legislation enacts a small change to the expensive procedures employed by the multi-million dollar abortion industry. Twenty-two states require some type of access to ultrasounds for abortion and we hope – for the safety of mother and child, that Rhode Island is to become the twenty-third. After all, all that this common sense bill really does is add on one simple question: Would you like to see the ultrasound image?
