Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky has joined forces with the American Civil Liberties Union to seek an injunction against Indiana’s requirement that abortionists provide women with the opportunity to view an ultrasound of their child at least 18 hours prior to performing abortions.
ACLU of Indiana legal director Ken Falk claimed that in the case of abortion facilities that lack ultrasound equipment on-site, the measure effectively forces women to make multiple, potentially costly trips, which “creates a substantial obstacle that disproportionately affects low-income women.” However, as abortionists have admitted elsewhere, ultrasounds are a routine part of performing surgical abortions (so abortionists can determine gestational age, ensure they’ve fully emptied the uterus of fetal parts, etc.), raising the question of why Indiana Planned Parenthood facilities would lack ultrasound equipment.
In response, Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher explained that the Supreme Court “has recognized that the abortion choice is often a difficult and painful moral decision with lasting significance, and that states have an interest in ensuring the decision is well informed,” and that courts “have found no constitutional infirmity in laws that give women time and resources to make such a weighty choice.”
“What is Planned Parenthood so afraid of?” asked Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter:
Is Planned Parenthood afraid that more abortion-minded women will choose life after seeing an ultrasound of their developing child? Is Planned Parenthood afraid that women will not be able to forget hearing the heartbeat of their child? Is Planned Parenthood afraid that giving women time between seeing their child and having the abortion will cut into their profits? The chilling answer to all these questions is ‘yes.’ Planned Parenthood cares more about itself than women.
Past reports have shown that close to 40 percent of Planned Parenthood’s individual facility income is made from abortions, despite the organization’s claims that abortion makes up only three percent of its total services (debunked here):
Multiple studies have found that letting abortion-minded women view ultrasounds before going through with the decision increases the likelihood that they will choose life.
A ruling on the injunction request could come this week. The judge hearing arguments on the case, Tanya Walton Pratt, was appointed by President Barack Obama. Planned Parenthood of Indiana & Kentucky CEO Betty Cockrum expressed confidence that Pratt would side with the injunction. Previously, Pratt stated that Indiana’s law banning abortions for genetic abnormalities, race or sex was “a prohibition on the right to an abortion.”
