{"id":276624,"date":"2022-09-23T14:49:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T19:49:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=276624"},"modified":"2022-09-22T21:51:10","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T02:51:10","slug":"media-recycles-fear-mongering-abortion-ultrasounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-recycles-fear-mongering-abortion-ultrasounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Media recycles old fear-mongering over ‘invasive’ pre-abortion ultrasounds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Senator Lindsey Graham’s proposed bill<\/a> to protect preborn human beings from abortion after 15 weeks gestation has garnered no shortage of controversy. Abortion advocates have done all they can to discredit it, with the latest attempt coming from NBC News. In an article<\/a> discussing the bill, the media outlet laments the possibility of women being “forced” to withstand traumatic and unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds before undergoing an abortion. Yet ultrasound has long been largely the standard for abortionists anyway \u2014 and an abortion itself is far more invasive.<\/p>\n

Should Graham’s bill pass, an abortionist who violates the law would face up to five years in prison. And doctors told NBC News this will make abortionists even more cautious when it comes to determining gestational age \u2014 which often requires a transvaginal ultrasound.<\/p>\n

“With just the liability riding on it, a lot of gynecologists may lean toward things like the ultrasounds because they want to cover themselves,” Karen Tang, a gynecologic surgeon, said, adding that ultrasounds are “almost always done transvaginally” early in pregnancy.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Lincoln, an Oregon obstetrician, said most doctors will comply with the age requirements through ultrasound. The bill, therefore, according to Jonathan Allen \u2014 a national senior politics reporter for NBC News \u2014 “would likely force many women to undergo invasive transvaginal ultrasounds before terminating pregnancies, according to doctors.”<\/p>\n

Outrage over transvaginal ultrasounds before abortion is nothing new; abortion activists have been likening transvaginal ultrasound to rape<\/a> for years. Yet what is rarely acknowledged is that abortionists often already perform ultrasounds before surgical abortions,\u00a0often transvaginally. After all, in order for the abortionist to know which procedure<\/a> to commit, they need to know the preborn child’s gestational age. It is considered a routine<\/a> part of the abortion process. After all, a woman who is 11 weeks pregnant can likely undergo an aspiration abortion, but a woman who is 16 weeks pregnant will likely need to undergo a dilation and evacuation, or D&E, abortion.<\/p>\n