{"id":298856,"date":"2023-09-18T18:36:45","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T23:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=298856"},"modified":"2023-09-18T15:51:41","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T20:51:41","slug":"abortion-seeking-women-option-view-ultrasounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/abortion-seeking-women-option-view-ultrasounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Abortion-seeking women want the option to view their ultrasounds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Secular Pro-Life<\/a>) [This information is available in the form of a Twitter thread here<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

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Research finds that women seeking abortion believe providers should offer them the option to view the ultrasound. But providers don\u2019t always do so, and abortion advocacy groups (Planned Parenthood Action, NARAL, ACOG) oppose measures requiring providers to do so.<\/p>\n

Please note I\u2019m not referring to legislation saying women must view ultrasounds. I\u2019m referring to legislation requiring medical personnel offer women the option to view their ultrasounds \u2014 an opportunity they can accept or decline.<\/p>\n

Research Showing Desire for Ultrasound Options<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Women do want to be offered this option. In\u00a0this UK study<\/a>, 72.6% of women seeking abortion chose to view the ultrasound, and of that group, 86.3% found it a positive experience. Interviewees recommended this choice be offered to every woman.<\/p>\n

In another study<\/a>, when patients seeking abortion were offered the opportunity to view the ultrasound, 42.5% chose to do so. Most women in the study had high decision certainty about the abortion, and the ultrasound didn\u2019t measurably change their minds. For the women who reported medium or low decision certainty, though, \u201cviewing was significantly associated with deciding to continue the pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not true all providers routinely offer this option.\u00a0In another UK study,<\/a>\u00a01 of 4 women who didn\u2019t see the ultrasound said they would\u2019ve liked to, but about half of ultrasonographers thought women shouldn\u2019t view due to \u201cpossible psychological effects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having to ask to view the ultrasound is different than having providers offer the option.\u00a0In this study<\/a>, some of the women wanted to view the ultrasound, but the provider didn\u2019t offer and the women \u201cdid not feel they had the right to ask.\u201d Some women peeked at the ultrasound screen when the provider was turned away, curious but generally feeling they weren\u2019t supposed to see it. All women in the study reported wanting the choice to view the ultrasound (even if they chose not to), and they wanted providers \u201cto engage in dialogue about viewing the image or not.\u201d<\/p>\n