By Becci Robbins
SC Progressive Network
Debate continued today on the 24-hour mandate bill that would require a woman have a “period of reflection” after obtaining an ultrasound before terminating a pregnancy. The Senate session was held in a room too small to accommodate the crowd, so many of us stood in the hallway craning to hear, just one more indication that this body has no real interest in including the public in its deliberations.
The discussion centered on the question of whether the bill caused an undue burden for women, especially in rural areas, who would have to take off two days of work or classes, or provide child care so they could make two trips to one of the three clinics in SC that provide abortion services.
To help minimize that burden, Kevin Bryant (the same Senator who got into trouble because he had a “funny” post on his blog saying the only difference between Obama and Osama was just a little BS) offered a compromise that would allow women to get their ultrasound at a “crisis pregnancy center,” of which there are many in South Carolina. The argument is that a woman could get an ultrasound at any number of facilities, making it easy to fulfill the requirement.
At least three problems, as I see it. One: the people providing ultrasounds at these CPCs, as they are referred to by folks in the field, are not licensed. Two: going to one of these facilities would still require at least another half-day off, and the expense of a second ultrasound. Three: the people at these facilities are in the business of steering women, with sometimes unsound and unsavory practices, into carrying pregnancies to term.
I know this because as a reporter a decade ago I went undercover into Birthright of Columbia, one of many of such facilities in South Carolina, posing as a woman with an unwanted pregnancy. I wrote a story about my experience, and it was unsettling. The “counselor” was coercive and heavy handed, trying his best to convince me to carry the pregnancy to term and that “we” would put the baby up for adoption.
Funneling women into these CPCs is the last thing we need to be doing. As benign as it may look on the surface, don’t be deceived. This is yet one more attempt to dissuade women from making decisions for themselves and giving power to people in the business of manipulating and frightening women with sometimes flat-out false information (such as the abortion/breast cancer link).
The full committee will meet next week to take up the bill. Please contact the Medical Affairs Committee and tell them to vote NO on H-3245. Email your senator: by clicking here.
Good post!
“One: the people providing ultrasounds at these CPCs, as they are referred to by folks in the field, are not licensed.”
Would you agree to them if the people met a specific certification or licensing requirement? What requirement would be acceptable to you?
“Two: going to one of these facilities would still require at least another half-day off, and the expense of a second ultrasound.”
Most, or all, CPCs do not charge for ultrasounds. This is not a business to them. It is an outreach to women in crisis.
“Three: the people at these facilities are in the business of steering women, with sometimes unsound and unsavory practices, into carrying pregnancies to term. ”
Okay, aside from how ridiculous this comment sounds, what unsavory or unsound practices are you talking about? Would those be the ones where they support women through the process? The ones where they provide counseling even if a woman has an abortion? The one where they provide free services where the people with the vested financial interest in abortion charge for the services?
And please explain to me the “the business of steering women…into carrying pregnancies to term” is. On the contrary, the business motive of encouraging young, vulnerable girls to make a decision that will haunt her the rest of her life no matter how often she is told it is legal is quite clear.
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