While I agree that the government should pull its hand out of personal health care choices, I find the mandate of sonograms for women seeking an abortion to be in the best interest of the patient for many reasons. First, I don’t think a sonogram is primarily about health care, but instead about education. Education in the sense that she knows fully what will be going on within her body. Secondly, a little jelly on her belly and a few sound waves are in no way, even potentially, risky or harmful.
As a dietetic major, I know a lot about the entrance and exit counseling required for those having or dealing with major health problems or procedures. In the case of most any bariatric surgery, the general population perceives little downsides to these procedures. Thankfully there are extensive screening, education and counseling requirements to ensure the patient can handle the surgery and after effects both physically and psychologically. If these procedures were given to anyone who wanted them, without proper warnings or education, they would later find themselves feeling misled, betrayed and in a worse off situation than they were before. The same is often true for abortion. Women are, more often then not, misinformed and not fully aware of the negative effects an abortion procedure can have, including: bleeding, infection, depression, infertility, nightmares, or in rare cases death. Pregnant women often rush into an abortion because they feel pressured, and are looking for a quick fix, which is rarely, if ever, the best option.
The sonogram is about giving the patient a better, honest, unadulterated, view of what will be removed from her body in an abortion. Once she sees the head, feet, arms, eyes, ears and heartbeat (detectable at 4 weeks) of her growing baby I hope she will think twice about having a medically unnecessary procedure to remove it. Furthermore, I find it ironic that in the “our take” of your editorial you wrote, “Health care decisions should not be mandated unless they protect the innocent – ” and to that I ask, what could possibly be more innocent then an unborn baby?
Rebekah Leitner, Senior Nutrition Major, Cincinnati Ohio
