{"id":186328,"date":"2018-08-02T16:49:13","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T21:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=186328"},"modified":"2018-08-02T16:49:49","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T21:49:49","slug":"federal-court-ultrasound-barrier-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/federal-court-ultrasound-barrier-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal court slaps down ultrasound law, calls it a ‘large barrier’ to abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(LifeSiteNews<\/a>) The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a preliminary injunction on Wednesday against a 2016 law requiring Indiana abortionists to give women ultrasounds of their unborn babies at least 18 hours before having an abortion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Originally signed into law by former governor and current Vice President Mike Pence, HEA 1337<\/a> requires abortionists to offer women the opportunity to see images of their preborn babies, but does not force women to view them.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt originally blocked the law\u2019s enforcement last year, and the 7th Circuit upheld that decision this week, ABC affiliate RTV-6 reports<\/a>. Back in April, 7th Circuit also upheld Pratt\u2019s rejection of the law\u2019s provisions requiring burial or cremation for aborted babies and forbidding abortions that specifically targeted genetic abnormalities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen, like all humans, are intellectual creatures with the ability to reason, consider, ponder, and challenge their own ideas and those of others,\u201d Judge Ilana Rovner’s\u00a0majority opinion<\/a> read. The court claimed that rather than \u201cserv[ing] the intended goal of persuading women to carry a pregnancy to term,\u201d the offer to see an ultrasound and the 18-hour delay were nothing more than a \u201clarge barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Informed consent is extensively regulated<\/a> without objection in most areas of medicine, however, and the American Medical Association calls<\/a> informed consent \u201cfundamental in both ethics and law.\u201d Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1992\u2019s Planned Parenthood v. Casey<\/em><\/a>, which otherwise upheld legal abortion, that states can require abortion seekers to wait 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Rovner\u00a0also chided (without ruling on its legality) the informational brochure mandated as part of the state\u2019s informed-consent requirement for, among other things, \u201cstat[ing] as fact that \u2018human physical life begins when a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm\u2019\u2014a proposition debated among scientists, religious leaders, and medical ethicists.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ: 40 quotes from medical experts and textbooks that prove human life begins at fertilization<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In fact, fertilization as human life\u2019s starting point has for years been established in mainstream medical and biology textbooks<\/a>, as defined by settled scientific criteria<\/a>\u00a0for what constitutes physical life. Many abortionists<\/a> and even some pro-abortion activists<\/a> freely admit that the procedure they champion kills distinct, living humans.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Planned Parenthood<\/a> of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana celebrated<\/a> the ruling in a press release Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are glad the court saw that there is no medical or legal justification for these rules, which would be especially burdensome for rural residents and people with low incomes,\u201d PPINK president Christie Gillespie said. ACLU Indiana legal director Ken Falk called the ruling \u201canother repudiation of the unnecessary and unconstitutional attempts by Indiana politicians to interfere with women\u2019s reproductive rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Sadly, many women will proceed with having an abortion without ever seeing the humanity of their unborn babies on display through ultrasound imaging,\u201d Indiana Right to Life president Mike Fichter responded<\/a> to the Indianapolis Star<\/em>. \u201cAbortion providers continue doing everything they can to block women from being fully informed prior to an abortion decision.”<\/p>\n