Wisconsin Becomes Latest State To Terrorize Women Seeking Abortions With Forced Ultrasounds

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed a bill on Friday requiring all women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound before they are allowed the procedure. The law will also ban doctors without admitting privileges from performing abortions at hospitals.

Following a long tradition of men who believe they know how to make decisions about women’s bodies and health better than women do, he had this to say about the bill: “This bill improves a woman’s ability to make an informed choice that will protect her physical and mental health now and in the future.”

Walker has a long history of “protecting” women. In 2011, he cut public funding for Planned Parenthood in his state, forcing the shuttering of four clinics – in Beaver Dam, Johnson Creek, Chippewa Falls and Shawano. The Planned Parenthood clinics were the only reproductive healthcare providers in those communities.

Last year, a friend of mine lost a baby in her fourth month of pregnancy. Her water broke, and being that she was only 16 weeks pregnant, all doctors agreed there was nothing they could do to keep the baby alive out of the womb. She had been trying to get pregnant for a year before this happened. She was devastated.

Because she decided she didn’t want to go through the trauma of “delivering” a baby that wouldn’t survive, she decided to go with a procedure that would extract the fetus from her uterus. Even though her baby was not going to survive her womb with no fluid, even though it was impossible for the pregnancy to go to term – her decision to end it with that procedure instead of being induced and delivering vaginally – was somehow considered an “abortion.” She lived in Texas, a state with the same awful ultrasound laws that Wisconsin just passed. She was forced to endure two ultrasounds before they would complete the procedure. Yes, that really helped her “mental health.”

Why is it so hard for pro-life legislators to grasp that women understand the gravity of their decisions regarding abortion? There is a potential human in there – we get it. Laws like this do nothing but terrorize women for taking control of their bodies. Also, they terrorize women who may have had no intention of having an abortion in the first place.

Within hours of the signing, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the bill is unconstitutional and asking for a temporary restraining order to block it.

(photo: Denis Vrublevski/ Shutterstock)