Oklahoma has passed a law requiring doctors to perform an ultrasound before performing an abortion, even if the patient refuses. For abortions performed in the first trimester, by far the most common kind of abortion, the “best image of the fetus” (which the doctor is mandated by the law to obtain) is usually achieved with an ultrasound probe inserted in the vagina. As a commenter on the Alternet article quickly noted, this meets the legal definition of rape under Oklahoma law.
Coercive penetration by a foreign object (you must have the ultrasound to get the abortion) against a patient’s will is now required by law in Oklahoma. Doctors in Oklahoma are now required to rape some of their patients. Has some substantial part of our citizenry gone so insane that they think this is okay?
I hope like hell this gets challenged in court. That is just absolutely asinine.
My God. An ultrasound is an extremely uncomfortable procedure, also extremely expensive. My insurance plan requires a separate authorization and office visit for one. So not only is this some attempt to construct the fertilized, implanted egg with personhood status and subject the woman to a medically unnecessary and violative procedure, but it further impedes the path to an abortion.