What do you think of recent efforts to more closely regulate how medical professionals provide abortions?

Molly Bloom March 22, 2012, 5:00 AM Mar 22, 2012

Several states are considering, or have already passed, new legislation on abortion.

Wisconsin, for example, recently passed a bill that would specify what physicians can legally say to patients in regards to abortion; Virginia and Idaho both passed bills requiring women seeking abortions to get ultrasounds.

Today’s Question: What do you think of recent efforts to more closely regulate how medical professionals provide abortions?

About the blogger

Molly Bloom

mbloom@mpr.org

Larry

I am in favor of state legislators being present every time a woman meets with a doctor. I know, I know, it’s a hard job for somebody that’s only elected to a state legislature; it’s not like they’ve gone to medical school or anything, but some of them mustta been boy scouts when they were young, and I’m sure they know better than any female what the doctor should provide.

Audrey F.

Pretty good, Larry.

ann sutherland-faerber

Yes, Larry is right on. (Good one Larry.) I think I state legislators should also be present when I’m having sex and giving birth too. I am so glad they *care*.

reggie

Just more incremental efforts to return us to the dark ages. Every woman should be free to choose her medical advisers, make her own decisions about what procedures or care she needs, and should be able to do so without the coercion or oversight of the state. Period.

The religious right in the US is looking more and more like the Taliban every day.

Homer

I believe Ned Flanders has it right: ” I wish we lived in a place more like the America of yesteryear that only exists in the brains of us Republicans. ”

Leif

When politics move into the Doctor’s. office we need to be afraid. Forget about this particular procedure but rather think – if they feel comfortable mandating medical procedures what may be the next one? Required sterilization, gastric bypass? Is there any end?

A.Ferrey

Very good, Larry.

Larry M.

Let the professionals do their job, things like this shouldn’t be legislated by novices in government.

Steve the Cynic

I continue to be amazed by the hypocrisy of the GOP opposing both abortion rights and social services that would encourage women to choose to carry crisis pregnancies to term.

Rich in Duluth

I think these laws are wrong for several reasons.

First, it’s an outrageous infringement on the rights of women. These laws assume that women are incapable of making decisions about their own bodies by themselves.

Second, those who propose these laws are mainly from the conservative side of politics. These people claim that government should have less control over our lives and these laws give government more control. This is blatant hypocrisy.

Third, abortion is legal. These laws are in place to make it less likely that a legal act will be taken. They are not based on safety, as drunk driving laws are. They seem only to be based on ideology and the tyranny of the masses. Is that a good basis for a law? I think not.

Finally, why is abortion considered wrong and should be discouraged by law? Yes, I hear lots of hyperbole about murdering babies and when heartbeats begin. But, if a medical doctor and her patient agree it can be done safely, what is wrong with abortion? Some say it’s wrong because a human being is being killed? Well, is that true? What is a human being? When does “humanness” begin? Is it when a cell divides or when a fully formed human becomes self aware? Who are the experts on this issue, citizens, scientists, or theologians? Shouldn’t answers to these questions be the basis for abortion law? These issues are debatable, so should laws be made before the issue is settled?

Mark in Freeborn

Frightening. I am constantly surprised (or maybe I shouldn’t be…..) at how the right-wing, generally Republican, forces want to regulate every aspect of our lives, yet tout “freedom,” “personal responsibility,” and “self-reliance.” What’s more amazing is the large number of voters who actually swallow such drivel and continue to support these people at the ballot box.

david

Good job republicans! Instead of doing anything meaningful during your term, all you did was try to impose your fascist agenda on anyone who you don’t think will vote for you anyway. And I do mean FASCIST! All the time the economy is still stagnant, no one is building, and my company has slashed our hours (woohoo 4 day weekends… oh wait that’s a 20% pay cut). Medical cost continue to climb because you won’t give already passed legislation a fair shake and offer no viable alternative, but instead try to pass legislation against women’s healthcare that will raise costs for EVERYONE! But hey your obstructionism has finally driven the final nail into the underwater prison I call my house. Your buddies at wells fargo can have it, I’m outta here.

And along Larry’s post, our legislators should be there during prostate exams too. After the A-reaming they’ve been giving us it’s only fair. I’m starting to feel a polyp grow that has to be the size of kurt zellars head. I’m sure he feels one the same size too, but in his case it is his head.

Kelsey P

I doubt these politicians would recognize a uterus if they saw one. It’s insane that they think they have any right to decide what goes into and out of mine. Regulating abortion access is a disgusting way to simply trim away at human rights. If you ask me, these conservatives are trying to see just how much they can get away with before the sheep revolt. We need to call their bluff and show them that we refuse to stand for this vile mistreatment!

It’s time to take the religion out of politics, and the politics out of biology.

Steve the Cynic

David, as bad as Republican polices are these days, Republicans are no more fascists than Democrats are socialists.
Steve the Cynic

David, as bad as Republican polices are these days, Republicans are no more fascists than Democrats are socialists.
Jim G

It’s paradoxical that conservative Republicans feel the need to regulate the reproductive lives of women while at the very same time pushing for an agenda to relax and eliminate all business regulation. Nationally, ultra-right legislators pass laws to control personal choice while expanding corporate power to take whatever they want without government oversight. Minnesota’s conservatives need to decide if they are for or against the concept of government regulation. It appears as if they want to have it both ways: Have their cake and eat it too. There is no middle ground for these extremists. They want to control it all, and that’s very bad for us.
kim

Ridiculous! Let’s see, we don’t want to regulate those who want to dump toxins into the environment, or make millions scamming people through the stock market, but we want to dictate, maybe word for word, what doctors say to their patients? How does that make sense? (Of course, it DOESN’T!) Save government intervention for issues that affect the nation as a whole, and stay out of our personal lives.

Rich, abortion is legal NOW. You know where they’re going with all this, don’t you?
Steve the Cynic

Now, now, david. Calling the Republicans fascits is just as over-the-top as calling Democrats socialists.
david

@ steve

Dictionary meaning:

fas·cist [fash-ist]

3) a person who is dictatorial or has extreme right-wing views.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/FASCIST?s=t

A spade is a spade, a d-bag is a d-bag.
suzie

Why is it that the more people want governement out of their personal lives, the more many of these same people want the goverment to pay to take care of them? Any medical advice and/or procedures of any kind should be between the doctor and their patient. If the prodcedure is an abortion, then the father of the fetus should be paying for that procedure – not the taxpayers. That would keep the government out of it. That’s the legislation that should be passed. If men had to pay for the birthcontrol / abortions, then, just maybe, they would be more responsible to prevent the pregnancy????
Steve the Cynic

Like I said, david….. Hitler and Mossolini were fascists. Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, et al., were dictatorial. As bad as Republican policies are, they are neither as dictatorial nor as extremely right-wing as the label fascist implies. Calling them fascists makes you look like just as much of an irrational hot-head as a Fox News commentator calling Obama a socialist. These abortion-shaming policies are bad enough that the truth is sufficient to undermine them. There is no need to exaggerate.
Darielle Dannen

No. This is just a veiled attempt to make abortion harder to access for women and more expensive.
david

Steve, you should probably take it up with the people at Random house, it’s their dictionary’s definition. I’m too tired to argue. The policies coming from both sides of the isle have been devastating to both my financial and health’s well being. It started with repealing glass steagall, was exasperated by everything shrub did (including sending in an army to do a cop’s job), and left to fester by a group of obstructionist who are being paid a lot of money to make sure it doesn’t happen to a group of people who could most afford it. The healthcare reform act would actually help me out a lot, if it was allowed to work, and my timing wasn’t again off like it was in 2006. After cancer surgery a couple weeks ago I’m saddled with at the very least a gigantic medical deductible I can’t afford because I have no savings left anymore. Years of under and unemployment is giving the insurance companies credence to call it a preexisting condition so I have a fight ahead just to get them to cover anything. These political morons insist on passing laws like the one in question that will only drive up my medical expenses even higher. They want to do nothing to create jobs or improve the economy except for those financial institutions that caused my houses decline in value in the six years I’ve owned it. I tried to be responsible, did not take on more then I could handle, but had the rug yanked out from under me in the middle of the game, and now they want to take the floor under the rug. As far as I’m concerned they are a group of fascist. I actually have a lot worse words for them, but they are not suitable for a public forum.
Steve the Cynic

Those “worse words” might be more technically accurate, david. If you insist on calling Republicans fascists, don’t presume to object when they call Obama, or you, a marxist.
Lance

Let me attempt to explain what you see as hypocrisy. True conservatives believe that ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ are individual rights endowed to each of us by our creator. Each individual’s rights need to be protected. By protecting each individual’s rights, there is no need to collectively herd the people into anything. True conservatives believe it is each individual’s right and responsibility to take care of him/herself, so long as they are able to do so, and the government is only there to step in when that individual is unable to do so.

When an individual possessing a fully functional uterus invites another individual into her bed, there is a possibility that this will create another individual. (Yes, I know this isn’t always by invitation, but sometimes by rape or incest – that is beyond the scope of this rant.)This newly created individual is also endowed by his/her creator with the same rights of ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’

The act of inviting another into your bed is an adult decision with adult consequences – pregnancy being one of the possibilities.
GregX

Talk about your interfering “nanny government.”
David Poretti

GOP – government so small it fits inside a uterus!
GregX

the political vernacular for left-right has no nadir or coherent basis. labels like “true conservative” are in essence rubbish – because the qualifier “true” is relativistic. try the thought experiment … what is “true water”, “true love”, “true sport fan”. They are all slippery and non-universal “quantities”. They are highly subjective. Among national persona’s “America” is politi-publicly very right wing – we market our government that way as tough, honest, open – but the cultureal reality is quite different. In what could be called “biblical proportions” we : (a) consume pornography, (b) cheat on our taxes, spouses, stop signes, speed limits, (c) drink alcohol, smoke, over-eat, (d) pollute, and generate waste of types – atmospheric, land, water, hazardous, toxic, nuclear. This is also a huge part of our true national self … that we just don’t own up to. We are personal sinners and we LIKE it.!

But we pat our selves on the back every day with the jingo-isitic … “It’s the American Way!” and castigate other nations for not living up to our public persona.

Is it a lie if we believe it ??? Only you “True Americans” will know.
Steve the Cynic

Well, Lance, at least you’re being consistent. The trouble with that kind of radical individualism, however, is that it too easily morphs into social darwinism. The ideological poles of radical individualism and radical collectivism are equally dehumanizing.
Ann

I think that laws about abortion sometimes help women get the information that they need before they get an abortion. Many woman have had regrets and much grief because they weren’t told the whole truth about abortion.A fetus isn’t just a piece of tissue. We try to protect people from things that can hurt them for the rest of their lives. We discourage smoking and drug use and other things. Women also need to know that they might regret an abortion as they learn more. For example, many people don’t realize that life has value, even if the person has Down’s Syndrome or is challenged in another way. Kerri on MPR had a good interview with a dad talking about the value of his son’s life. The boy was almost competely disabled.
Anny

As someone who has been a patient in an abortion clinic (nope, not Planned Parenthood or even a clinic referred by them,) it makes me sick to think that politicians want to restrict this needed service. Abortion isn’t a walk in the park, it’s probably one of the hardest choices to make and live with, but it still has to be an option for a woman if she feels it is right for herself and/or her family.

It’s sad that there are people who want to make women jump through hoops to discourage abortion, or even flat-out outlaw them. I’d rather see the need for abortions go down by increasing access and affordability to a wide range of contraceptives, health services, counseling, and financial support… or at the very least, stop cutting off funding for those kind of social services. (Come to think of it, I wish the health insurance I paid for at the time covered birth control too.)

I’m certain though, the last thing I would have needed during that time would be a complete stranger’s religious convictions restricting my health care. Like it or not, the world is not a perfect place where women don’t need abortions.
Ron

I think the real goal is to get a law on the books for a state – *any* state – which will be challenged and eventually get before the current Supreme Court in an effort to get them to pull in and overturn the Roe v. Wade decision. And the Roberts-led court will overturn it, if given the chance.
Mary

I thought the Republicans wanted government less in our lives via fewer regulations. I prefer to make my medical decisions with my doctor not my congressmen.
Never

“less government’ pause ‘but um, could you give me a ride to the doctor? I think he/she is going to tell me some stuff I hadn’t thought of before making this rash decision, and my being uneducated and possibly not knowing I could get pregnant, you’ll need to explain it to me Mister legislator’
Valerie

It’s infuriating that some proposed laws require medical professionals to give patients information that has been proven false- such as the supposed correlation between abortion and increased risk for breast cancer.
Greg

Why not use 21st century technology to shed light on something as controversial as abortion?
Greg

If a picture is worth a thousand words than what would an ultrasound be worth? The answer: A human life
Greg

These regulations are not about inhibiting a woman’s “rights”. They are about recognizing those of the unborn.
Carrie

As the mother of an “almost completely disabled” child, I think Ann shouldn’t be talking about something she doesn’t know anything about. While we love our son, we do not love the life that he has given to us as his parents/caregivers. Believe me, it’s not a walk in the park. Also, I don’t even know what you mean by “the whole truth about abortion”. Wow. Seriously? Let’s not make this decision any harder than it already is. Abortion is legal whether you agree with it or not.
Sue de Nim

As a non-fundamentalist Christian, I am not persuaded either (1) that a woman has an absolute right to terminate a pregnancy, or (2) that a fetus has an absolute right to be born. Abortion is never a good thing, but I know of cases where a reasonable person, after appropriate soul searching, could decide that it’s less bad than carrying a pregnancy to term. Therefore, I will not pass judgment on any woman who decides that in her particular case that having an abortion is the morally responsible choice, and I oppose laws whose sole purpose is to shame women into compliance with fundamentalist dogma.
June Fahrmann

No. There is is never a medical basis for any of these regulations as it is strictly political hype. There is nothing to fix, as abortion providers have been under so much scrutiny over the years that they probably have the highest standards of any clinic. All of the suggested regulations, laws, and bills, are simply put forth to make it more difficult for both women and doctors. It’s obviously about oppression and keeping government in the personal lives of women and their families. It’s very exhausting to see this as a focus of the political world when there are real problems that need attention in our suffering economy. And, by the way, all physicians are licensed yearly by the State, are Board Certified in their Specialty, and have numerous agencies that they report to…Abortion Providers included! Is anyone else embarrassed by the politicians in the U.S….we are looking pretty silly to the rest of the World!
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