Pregnancy
Indiana Tries To One-Up Virginia, Threatens Transvaginal Ultrasounds Before – And After – Medical Abortions
And yes, ultrasounds, especially transvaginal ultrasounds that would be necessary for anyone less then ten weeks pregnant, are unreasonable expectations for women looking to exercise a federally protected right. Unnecessarily sticking a probe into someone’s birth canal is not a reasonable expectation. There is nothing minor about having several inches of plastic inserted into one’s vagina while sitting with your legs in stirrups. It is uncomfortable and personal and should never be forced upon anyone.
And to Travis Holdman’s final point, that we’re talking about the lives a mother and child. I find it personally offensive for him to pull out this type of rhetoric, as if he has the moral high ground in this situation. I took the medication to have an abortion after I found out that the baby my husband and I had been trying to conceive for years was ectopic. I sobbed as I made that decision. And Travis Holdman pretending that he understands anything about my life and my choice is insulting. He has no idea how horrible that experience was for me, and how much worse it might have been under laws like the ones he is proposing, where the government inserts itself into my personal reproductive health.
The Indiana government does not need to step in and enforce extraneous regulations on medical abortions and RU-486. It is a prescription medication. It is regulated just like every other prescription medication used in this country. And it is used for medical purposes that should be decided between a patient and their physician. No legislator should be permitted to insert themselves into that choice.
Every woman in the state of Indiana should be offended by this bill. We should be disgusted that our legislature would attempt to force a physically invasive, expensive, unnecessary procedure on us because it wants to make a political statement about abortion rights.
As someone with first hand knowledge of exactly what this bill is attempting to force on the women of Indiana, I have never been more ashamed or disgusted to be a Hoosier in my entire life.
(Photo: Maddow Blog)
