Do laws obliging mothers to have ultrasounds before abortion make sense?

A number of Texan doctors are protesting that a recent State law insisting women be given an ultrasound prior to an abortion is turning them into nothing more than a “mouthpiece” for the State's ideological position on the right to life of the unborn.

The new law, passed in 2011, requires abortion providers to carry out an ultrasound and describe the image to the woman, who, if she chooses can view the image and listen to the foetal heartbeat as well.

Claims that this violates doctors' free speech led to the law being banned temporarily, a ruling which was later overturned in the US Court of Appeals.

Does such a law violate a doctor's free speech? Aren't they merely describing the empirical facts presented to them via the ultrasound machine? These biological truths are not opinion, but verifiable fact. Doctors are not being asked to make a value-judgement, just relate clear reality. Surely this is their primary job as a medic, without which a ‘patient' cannot make a properly informed decision?

Women are often oblivious to the developmental stage of their pregnancy. Few realise just how much development has occurred by 8, 10 or 12 weeks, which is extremely concerning when we bear in mind that the majority of abortions are performed by 13 weeks.

By 21 days, the heart is beating, by 40 days brainwaves can be detected, by week 7 all the fingers are present, the skin is becoming touch sensitive and movement of the limbs is starting. By week 8 all bodily systems are in place, and this little person's time and energy are now spent on growing and maturing.

People often get confused by the question of when the life of a human being begins. A large part of the difficulty is that they can see that the unborn is in a process of development, with our familiar human appearance and behaviours taking time to be revealed. However, the answer to this question is quite simple, really; scientific evidence shows us that the life cycle of a new human being begins at fertilisation - countless scientists will attest to this evident fact; the existence of a new life starts at conception.

In terms of the confusion people feel about ‘is it really a human being even though it is one biologically', we here hit upon the age-old philosophical problem of being and becoming  - you know, the story of Parmenides who gets a visit from a goddess who reveals to him the eternalness of being and the other philosopher, Heraclitus, who describes how one can never step in the same river twice because it is always changing - likewise, how can an embryo or foetus possibly be human when it is changing so much?

Well, just as Aristotle points out, being and becoming go hand in hand with each other. Throughout all the changes a human being undergoes, especially during those first nine months, it is always the same individual that exists - this is a constant. Yes, changes do occur, but those changes don't radically alter the individual, they are just part of the process of unleashing the potential that is written within that individual.

The reality is that during the first 9 months, the changes we undergo are predominantly biological. When we are born, we still have a few physiological changes to complete, then the focus is much more on psychological, intellectual and moral changes, a process which is never quite complete. Being called human doesn't depend upon the stage of development we reach, or whether yet we can feel, or experience emotions, or talk or think; it depends upon what kind of being we are. And we start to be that kind of being at conception.

If obliging a woman to look at, hear the heartbeat of, or listen to a description of the new life developing away inside her, helps a woman to become aware of the unique and precious reality she carries within her, enabling her to make a more informed decision, then surely this is a good thing and makes complete sense?

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