Pro-life breakthrough in Louisiana

>>>this is big news from the Louisiana Senate. Let's celebrate this bit of good news coming from the Pelican state!

Thursday May 20, 2010
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Louisiana Senate Overwhelmingly Advances Ultrasound Mandate for Abortion

By Peter J. Smith

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, May 20, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Senators in Louisiana overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday that seeks to expand the requirements of informed consent by mandating abortionists perform an ultrasound on a mother seeking an abortion. The bill is similar to one that was recently passed in Oklahoma.

The Senate voted 33-4 for the bill (SB 528), which was sponsored by Sen. Sharon Broome (D-Baton Rouge), and developed with the aid of the Louisiana Right to Life Federation and the Bioethics Defense Fund. The law requires abortionists to perform an ultrasound on a woman at least two hours before she undergoes the induced abortion of her child, and before she is put under any kind of anesthesia.

The legislation that senators approved on Tuesday was a weakened version of the original bill developed by pro-life groups, which would have required abortionists to put the ultrasound screen in view of the woman, describe the ultrasound, and then hand her a copy of the ultrasound in a sealed envelope.

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee amended the bill so that the abortionist has to do the ultrasound, but only has to offer the women the opportunity to view the ultrasound, hear the explanation, and view the printout.

Benjamin Clapper, Director of Louisiana Right to Life, told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that they had some initial concerns about the changes that were happening in the committee’s version.

“We were worried that the fox is in charge of the henhouse, the abortionist has no interest in the woman seeing the ultrasound because that could hurt his business,” Clapper said.

However, a compromise was struck so that the bill defined the exact language that an abortionist has to say to the mother before performing the ultrasound.

Abortionists who break the law will be liable to civil penalties and disciplinary action by the state medical board.

The law also states that women should be given materials informing them of hospitals and other places that will offer them ultrasounds free of charge.

“So we consider this to be a double or a triple instead of a grand slam,” emphasized Clapper. “This is certainly a good bill, a good pro-life success, and it gives women in Louisiana considering an abortion the opportunity to have an ultrasound done, and see the ultrasound image of their child. But it is not everything we’d like it to be.”

Clapper said he expected the House to pass the bill.

“Hopefully many of the women will choose to view the ultrasound,” added Clapper, “be blown away by what’s inside of them, and turn towards life in this situation.”