Sent from the North Carolina Democratic Party:
Law on Ultrasounds Reignites Abortion Battle in North Carolina
The New York Times
By Richard Fausset
1/10/16
RALEIGH, N.C. — A state law requiring that doctors who perform an abortion after the 16th week of pregnancy supply an ultrasound to state officials has sparked a new and bitter front in the war over abortion here, with stakes that are both personal and political.
Supporters say the purpose of the law is to verify that doctors and clinics are complying with state law, which outlaws abortions after 20 weeks but with an exception made for medical emergencies. Critics say the purpose is to intimidate and provide hurdles to women and doctors. The ultrasound provision, already a requirement in Louisiana and Oklahoma, is part of the continuing pushback against abortion in Republican-controlled states. In highly polarized North Carolina, it has raised the temperature of the abortion debate, which has been used to motivate conservative and liberal voters alike.
The law requires doctors who perform an abortion after the 16th week of pregnancy to send the State Department of Health and Human Services the method used to determine the “probable gestational age” of the fetus, the measurements used to support the assertion and, most controversially, an ultrasound showing the measurements. The provisions took effect Jan. 1.
Tami L. Fitzgerald, a prominent anti-abortion activist who consulted with the bill’s sponsors in the Republican-controlled legislature, said she expected that the health department would use the ultrasounds to determine whether facilities were performing unauthorized abortions after 20 weeks.
“It should also act as a deterrent to the doctors themselves from lying about gestational age,” said Ms. Fitzgerald, the executive director of the North Carolina Values Coalition. “The state has made a public policy decision that babies after 20 weeks have a right to live. So this law is about protecting the rights of those unborn babies.”
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