Does Looking at the Ultrasound Before an Abortion Change Women's Minds?
They needed a study for this? Fucking fucked up Republican reproductive slavery POS bullshit assholes. Or anyone else who is anti-choice
This latest study is much larger. Researchers analyzed 15,575 medical records from an urban abortion care provider in Los Angeles. Each patient seeking an abortion was asked how she felt about her choice: Those who made “clear and confident” replies were rated as having “high decision certainty,” while those who seemed sad, angry or ambivalent were said to show “medium” or “low” decision certainty. (Only 7.4 percent of the women fell into the latter categories.) Patients underwent ultrasounds as part of the standard procedure, and 42.5 percent of them opted to see the images. Of those, 98.4 percent terminated their pregnancies; 99 percent of the women who did not look at the photographs ended their pregnancies. But here’s the thing: The women who viewed the sonograms and then backed out were all part of that 7.4 percent of women with low or medium decision certainty. Women who knew abortion was the right decision for them continued with the procedure whether they were shown the images or not.
The main takeaway here is definitely that 98.4 percent of the women who saw their ultrasounds went on to get an abortion anyway. And for the 1.6 percent who decided not to go through with it, other factors, such as gestational age, were more salient in swaying them. (“It is the information the ultrasound scan renders…rather than the image that influences women’s decision-making,” the researchers write.) Also, it is clear that once you’ve resolved to terminate, gazing at the bean won’t change that: Exactly none of the women with high decision certainty were dissuaded by their sonograms.
Yet viewing the ultrasound images did influence some of the wavering women to stick with their pregnancies. Even though the number is very small, this is important to acknowledge. It means not only that forcing or pressuring women to look at their fetus will probably prevent a sliver of abortions—which is relevant for those who oppose and want to reduce abortions—but also that some women do respond to these pictures. I don’t buy the patronizing notion that patients seeking abortion “know not what they do”—that they have some false idea about the contents of their uteruses to be toppled by an “adorable,” “precious” or “lifelike” sonogram. I also doubt all women even have the maternal instinct right-wingers hope these images will fan to life. But I do trust that unsure women who voluntarily look at ultrasounds and then decide against abortion are acting as rationally as the ones who decide to go through with it. We all make choices along a variety of axes: the financial axis, the relationship status axis, the personal goals and dreams axis, the ethical axis and, yes, the emotional axis. Expecting women to ignore any one scrap of data (as if they are not capable of weighing it, carefully, alongside the others) is underestimating women.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/01/09/ultrasound_viewing_before_an_abortion_a_new_study_finds_that_for_a_small.html
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They don't know how a woman's mind works. It's all that mystery that comes with being a lady, you know. A man can't possibly know why a women wants an abortion or how she feels. 
The only thing they accomplished was to add an extra expense to the procedure, so that poor women would struggle even more to be able to get it done.
destroys their life by doing that. I think she's just commenting on how hard the procedure was on her family members (and to be fair, the rw has managed to make the procedure pretty damn hard to deal with because of all the extra shaming.)
Lives aren't necessarily ruined by medical procedures like abortion. In most cases it's a necessary thing, and a relief to the women who goes through it. That doesn't mean you're not allowed to feel bad about the what could have been. 
I was hoping I wasn't putting words in your mouth. 
As far as people who grieve because of their abortions.... they deserve all the empathy in the world. I'm sorry your family members still carry it with them, and I hope they'll be able to find some solace in the future.
I absolutely agree with you that organized religion is making abortion harder than it needs to be. It's also creating a very hostile culture that tries to shame you for wanting bodily autonomy. Not good.
for forcing them to have to deal with transvaginal ultrasounds against their will? I mean, not only would have to look at what might feel like accident pictures, you're also essentially being raped with an object while it goes on.
Probably not, but I can dream.
