Indiana Bill Would Force Women To Undergo Two Transvaginal Probes To Take A Pill
7:44 pm - 02/21/2013
A medication abortion pill, officially known as RU-486, is the earliest available abortion option for a woman. A patient could be as little as one week pregnant and take the pill to terminate. But despite the incredibly early stage at which the pill is administered, a new bill proposed in the Indiana State Senate would require women to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound before they are permitted to simply swallow the medication.
Indiana’s effort follows a sweeping national trend to mandate the medically unnecessary and invasive procedure as a way to create barriers to abortion access. And theirs goes a step further, by also forcing clinics that administer the pill to meet all of the same requirements as a surgical abortion clinic:
The provision is included in Senate Bill 371, which also would require any clinic that dispenses the drug — known as RU-486 — to meet the same requirements as a clinic that performs surgical abortions, though physicians’ offices would be exempt.
Those requirements, opponents say, potentially would force the Planned Parenthood clinic in Lafayette to close. That clinic offers the abortion pill but does not perform surgical abortions. If the bill passes, the clinic would have to widen hallways and doorways to meet state specifications for surgery and install anesthesia, surgical and sterilization equipment.
Twelve states already have unnecessary ultrasound laws on the books, and over a dozen more are being considered in state houses across the country. But the theory that legislators are peddling — that such laws might change a woman’s mind — ignore the simple fact that 90 percent of women feel very confident about their decision to get an abortion before seeing a doctor. A transvaginal ultrasound may cause a woman discomfort and cost her more money, but it’s unlikely to change her constitutionally-protected decision to get an abortion.
UPDATE
Indiana’s bill is actually twice as invasive as most forced ultrasound bills, the Huffington Post reports. The version that advanced out of a Senate committee today would require women to undergo two transvaginal probes — before and after taking the abortion pill. There’s no medically necessary reason to require an ultrasound after an abortion procedure, since women can simply take a blood test to see whether their hormone levels have returned to normal to verify that they are no longer pregnant.
Source
Imgur is down so imagine kathygriffinfuckyou.gif
Indiana’s effort follows a sweeping national trend to mandate the medically unnecessary and invasive procedure as a way to create barriers to abortion access. And theirs goes a step further, by also forcing clinics that administer the pill to meet all of the same requirements as a surgical abortion clinic:
The provision is included in Senate Bill 371, which also would require any clinic that dispenses the drug — known as RU-486 — to meet the same requirements as a clinic that performs surgical abortions, though physicians’ offices would be exempt.
Those requirements, opponents say, potentially would force the Planned Parenthood clinic in Lafayette to close. That clinic offers the abortion pill but does not perform surgical abortions. If the bill passes, the clinic would have to widen hallways and doorways to meet state specifications for surgery and install anesthesia, surgical and sterilization equipment.
Twelve states already have unnecessary ultrasound laws on the books, and over a dozen more are being considered in state houses across the country. But the theory that legislators are peddling — that such laws might change a woman’s mind — ignore the simple fact that 90 percent of women feel very confident about their decision to get an abortion before seeing a doctor. A transvaginal ultrasound may cause a woman discomfort and cost her more money, but it’s unlikely to change her constitutionally-protected decision to get an abortion.
UPDATE
Indiana’s bill is actually twice as invasive as most forced ultrasound bills, the Huffington Post reports. The version that advanced out of a Senate committee today would require women to undergo two transvaginal probes — before and after taking the abortion pill. There’s no medically necessary reason to require an ultrasound after an abortion procedure, since women can simply take a blood test to see whether their hormone levels have returned to normal to verify that they are no longer pregnant.
Source
Imgur is down so imagine kathygriffinfuckyou.gif
I don't even begin to understand how they can legally force a woman to submit to even ONE of these, let alone to force them to submit to one after they've had it done. This is blackmail, pure and simple.
Edit because words. Also, fuck you, male politicians. Stop denying there is a war on women, because RIGHT HERE. HERE IT IS. HERE IS PROOF YOU HATE WOMEN AND WANT TO SUBJUGATE US INTO NOTHING MORE THAN BROODMARES.
Edited at 2013-02-22 05:30 pm (UTC)
I can't imagine what a nightmare getting RU-486 from a pharmacy would be. I also can't imagine the people who run the clinics trusting any random pharmacist to hand the pills over without fuss.
This bullshit is getting so fucking old.
This shit is absurd.
*edited to add 'male'
Edited at 2013-02-22 05:26 pm (UTC)
I used to laugh at people who said that The Handmaid's Tale was going to be reality soon.
Now... welcome to Gilead.
Rachel Maddow did a great piece on this last night, btw.
I'm having trouble working out what it is about the difference between a clinic and a physicians office that means you can't relatively easily redefine one as the other to meet your needs at the time. Even if it means getting the doctors at the clinic to pay a peppercorn rent for their desk, so that their desk is really their own, and then getting them to bill the patient individually before assigning the ability to collect on those bills to the clinic. Does "physician" have some meaning in America that it doesn't have where I'm from? Here any doctor can run their own office if they wish.
Also, that was probably a condition forced in there by the opposition so there would be at least some place to get RU-486 (even if they are incredibly scarse) without this invasion-even though most insurance companies and the few doctors who do give RU-486 already have the two-ultrasound rule in place as a CYA measure.