Reply #9: Unconscionable. The FL House bill requiring ultrasounds before ALL abortions advances to Senate. [View All]

[seafan]

Florida House votes to require ultrasound before all abortions

By Josh Hafenbrack
April 3, 2008

The Florida House on Wednesday mounted what critics called a two-pronged assault on abortion rights, passing legislation that would require pregnant women to undergo ultrasound exams before getting abortions and effectively defining life at conception for criminal prosecutions.
Any woman seeking to terminate a pregnancy would be required to pay for an ultrasound procedure — and view the results unless she signed a waiver — before having the abortion, under a bill passed by the House largely along party lines.

The Republican-led chamber also endorsed a "fetal homicide" bill that would create a separate murder charge for anyone who caused a pregnancy to be terminated through an act of violence against a pregnant woman. It defines an "unborn child" as a fetus at any stage of development, beginning at conception.

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Gov. Charlie Crist, whose signature would be required for the bills to become law, has been silent on the matter.

Democrats argued the abortion measures were little more than a government invasion into a private health matter.
"This is not about protecting the rights of women," said Rep. Joyce Cusack, D-DeLand. "This is about eroding the rights of women. And I am so disappointed we would spend this kind of time on something that is really none of our business."

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Hopefully, the FL Supreme Court will strike this down as unconstitutional, as it places an unfair burden on women seeking to terminate a pregnancy.