Thoughts on the Texas "Shame" Act

On February 6, 2012, Texas passed something called a Sonogram Law. This law required that women who are getting an abortion are required to receive a sonogram and be shown the fetus they're about to abort 24 hours before the abortion. Also, they are required to listen to the heartbeat and a description of the fetus inside of them.

This law has been very controversial. The purpose of it is said to protect the health of women, and to make sure they are making an informed decision in their abortion. It's argued that for some women who don't want to have an abortion- it just adds to the pain and hardship of the decision. An example is one woman's story who aborted her child at the doctor's suggestion because the child would be disabled for the rest of it's life.

KVUE recently featured an article on a Doonesbury comic strip that is about abortion. In the comic strip, a woman planning to get an abortion is sent to the "shaming room" to meet with a "middle-aged white man". This comic is intended to make fun of the Sonogram law that was passed by Rick Perry.

In her blog, Rachel talks about this comic and article. She notes how in the article, the CEO of a non-profit anti-abortion group says that this comic shouldn't be in the papers where "families and children can see it" and that we need to give women "the privacy [they] deserve when making that decision. Rachel argues that the fact that it's not suitable for women proves that the law itself is not about protecting the privacy of rights and women at all. She claims it's "state-mandated shame", and proceeds to call it the Texas Shame Act.

The first thing I noticed from Rachel's blog post is that it was extremely short and contained little to no background information on the Sonogram law itself. All she seemed to do was state her opinion very strongly without much logic or evidence to support her view. She seemed believe that this law contributed to the shame women face when they decide to have an abortion, and that shame is wrong and unneccessary.

I disagree with Rachel's viewpoint that this law only serves to increase the shame involved with abortion. I think there are many instances where frantic young women- girls, even- go into an abortion clinic, thinking they have no other options. Soon after the procedure, the weight and reality of their actions haunt their conscience for years to come. This has happened to many different women in my life. Things would be very different for women in this situation if they were more informed about what they are doing when they are getting an abortion. In this way, I think this procedure is not only saving innocent lives, but helping women make more informed decisions.