Senator Lindsey Graham’s proposed bill to protect preborn human beings from abortion after 15 weeks gestation has garnered no shortage of controversy. Abortion advocates have done all they can to discredit it, with the latest attempt coming from NBC News. In an article discussing the bill, the media outlet laments the possibility of women being “forced” to withstand traumatic and unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds before undergoing an abortion. Yet ultrasound has long been largely the standard for abortionists anyway — and an abortion itself is far more invasive.
Should Graham’s bill pass, an abortionist who violates the law would face up to five years in prison. And doctors told NBC News this will make abortionists even more cautious when it comes to determining gestational age — which often requires a transvaginal ultrasound.
“With just the liability riding on it, a lot of gynecologists may lean toward things like the ultrasounds because they want to cover themselves,” Karen Tang, a gynecologic surgeon, said, adding that ultrasounds are “almost always done transvaginally” early in pregnancy.
Jennifer Lincoln, an Oregon obstetrician, said most doctors will comply with the age requirements through ultrasound. The bill, therefore, according to Jonathan Allen — a national senior politics reporter for NBC News — “would likely force many women to undergo invasive transvaginal ultrasounds before terminating pregnancies, according to doctors.”
Outrage over transvaginal ultrasounds before abortion is nothing new; abortion activists have been likening transvaginal ultrasound to rape for years. Yet what is rarely acknowledged is that abortionists often already perform ultrasounds before surgical abortions, often transvaginally. After all, in order for the abortionist to know which procedure to commit, they need to know the preborn child’s gestational age. It is considered a routine part of the abortion process. After all, a woman who is 11 weeks pregnant can likely undergo an aspiration abortion, but a woman who is 16 weeks pregnant will likely need to undergo a dilation and evacuation, or D&E, abortion.
Abortionists not only utilize ultrasound before an abortion, but may occasionally perform an ultrasound following an abortion to ensure that no remains are left inside the woman’s uterus. A transvaginal ultrasound would be the most accurate way of determining this. Some abortionists do not perform post-abortion ultrasounds, but it carries a heavy risk — if there are remains left inside, it can lead to life-threatening complications.
Meanwhile, though abortion activists frequently bemoan how supposedly traumatic and invasive transvaginal ultrasounds are, they ignore that the abortion itself is significantly more invasive. Dilators, forceps, curettes, and other abortion tools are inserted into the woman’s uterus through her vaginal canal, and the baby’s body is forcibly removed. Yet somehow, women are supposed to believe that it is the ultrasound, and not the invasive abortion procedure itself, that is traumatizing and akin to rape.
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