Editorial 2

Nebraska is one of eleven states that are considering bills that may require women to receive an ultrasound before continuing with the abortion procedure. Sixteen states already have abortion-related ultrasound laws. Some of these require that the doctor show the patient the ultrasound, some require the patient to hear the fetus's heartbeat and some require the doctor to inform the patient where she can receive a free ultrasound.

The two proposed bills under speculation in Nebraska are LB675 and LB676. Legislative bill 675 would require doctors to show their patient the ultrasound before she would be permitted to receive the abortion. Oklahoma's version of the ultrasound bill, which is much like LB675, is currently facing a lawsuit against the center for Reproductive Rights, who claim that this bill violates privacy, endangers health and assaults dignity. Legislative bill 676 states that the doctor must tell the patient an ultrasound is available and refer her to a crisis pregnancy center that tries to discourage the woman from getting an abortion.

Both bills are a biased way of discouraging women from getting an abortion regardless of the circumstances or situation. If the goal of these two bills was to have absolutely no abortions, why are they skirting around the issue and why didn’t they propose to outlaw abortions altogether?

By forcing women to listen to the fetus’s heartbeat or look at the ultrasound, the bill is patronizing, humiliating and degrading women. It assumes that women going in to receive abortions are not informed and even suggests that they don’t realize they have a fetus inside of them. This bill is not concerned with the woman’s health or mental security but instead, determined to get rid of abortions altogether.

Everyone agrees that a decreased number of abortions in Nebraska is desired, but the bills being proposed do nothing more than fault the women without identifying the key cause. The goal is to decrease the number of abortions by assessing how to prevent the unwanted pregnancies to begin with. These women need to be informed before getting pregnant. Birth control and other preventatives need to be more accessible to women so the number of unwanted pregnancies decreases along with the number of abortions. If an abortion is sought, the woman needs to be referred to an unbiased counseling center to help her make the most appropriate decision for her situation.