Jannie Ho
Mrs. Karyn Tash
Pre-DP Inquiry Skills
26 February 2014
Sonya’s Law Recently a new law was created, called Sonya’s Law, also known as the ultrasound law, that is spreading throughout the United States, which is requiring women to undergo an ultrasound prior to having an abortion. Twenty-three states have already adopted this new law. There is currently an ongoing debate in many states on whether this law should be accepted or not, and recently, Virginia has revoked the ultrasound law. It may be argued that determining the health of an unborn baby using an ultrasound is vitally important to doctors; however, most abortions occur during the first trimester and ultrasounds typically can’t get a clear image of the baby in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Women should not be required to undergo an ultrasound prior to having an abortion because it doesn’t change their minds, it’s medically unnecessary, it’s a burden, and it’s a political move. To begin, requiring women to undergo an ultrasound prior to having an abortion does not change their minds. The main reason this law was developed was to “make women think twice before undergoing an abortion.” (Richmond Times Dispatch.) Nonetheless, a recent study from the University of California shows that 98.4% of women who saw their sonogram went and got their abortion anyways. (Time.) Women who were already positive that they wanted to get an abortion went and got one even after seeing their ultrasound. Looking at their ultrasounds doesn’t affect their decisions. Although, other factors such as, who the father is, their stability, and money do. Making women look at an ultrasound of their unborn baby does not change any of those factors at all. Tracy Weits also states in her 2010 presentation that 60% of women getting abortions have already delivered a child and that they’re getting their abortion because of the “material conditions of their lives”. People who are for the abortion law claim that they also created the law because they don’t think women understand that their fetus is actually a human yet, “Women do not have abortions because they believe the fetus is not a human or because they don’t know the truth.” (American Independent.) In addition, the ultrasound law is medically unnecessary. Most abortions occur during the first trimester and ultrasounds typically can’t get a clear image of the baby in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Since doctors can’t get a clear image of the baby, the ultrasound law is basically, states Sean Holihan of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, "telling women to go and pay for a completely useless procedure." (Political Mojo.) Women should not be forced to pay for a procedure that would be useless not only because ultrasounds can’t get a clear image, but also because looking at sonograms doesn’t change women’s minds. Only 42.5% of the women who participated in the ultrasound study wanted to see their sonogram and 98.4% of the women who saw their ultrasounds decided they wanted to continue with the abortion anyways. (Time Health & Family.)
Furthermore, the new ultrasound law is not only a burden to the patients, but also to the doctors performing these medical procedures. Holihan says that this law is "just putting another barrier in front of women." (Political Mojo.) Instead of having a sonogram and performing the abortion procedure all in one day, the new ultrasound law is creating an unnecessary delay. Women will have to take an extra day off work, skip an extra day of school, spend twice as much on childcare, and spend more money on transportation to get the procedure on a separate date. This creates a delay for their abortion procedure and creates the burden of rescheduling patients’ procedures on multiple days. Studies show that women who are already certain that they want to have an abortion are not going to change their minds, and forcing them to undergo an ultrasound is a physical and emotional burden as The Supreme Court has
