Gov. Scott Walker Signs Abortion Law Requiring Ultrasounds in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed a bill on Friday that will require women seeking abortions to see an ultrasound of the fetus. It will also order all doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges to be close to a hospital.
"The bill improves a woman's ability to make an informed choice that will protect her physical and mental health now and in the future," Walker's office said in a statement.
The bill is part of widespread Republican efforts to limit abortions. Starting Monday, it will require any woman thinking about having abortion to view an ultrasound while the technician shows her the fetus' organs. Doctors would also need to be less than 30 miles away from a hospital in which they have admitting privileges.
By requiring the pregnant woman to see the fetus through ultrasounds, supporters argue she will be able to bond with the fetus, and more of a chance it will convince her to save it.
Within hours, opponents of the bill, and the state's two abortion providers, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and Affiliated Medical Services, filed a lawsuit.
"Whether during special legislative sessions, at midnight votes, or in courthouses across the country, Planned Parenthood is fighting deeply unpopular and dangerous attacks on women's health every step of the way," Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards said in a statement. "The health and safety of American women are at stake - and that is why this unconstitutional law cannot be allowed to stand."
Similar laws have passed in North Dakota, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama. By restricting admitting privileges to within a few miles of the hospital, doctors who normally fly in from out of state wouldn't be able to perform abortions. And given the hostile political climate surrounding abortion, states that are majority pro-life can use such bills to limit abortions to the point that they can shut down clinics.
Planned Parenthood says that by requiring admitting privileges, two abortion clinics — in Appleton and Milwaukee — will close down because the physicians in both clinics don't have enough time to get them.
"What the legislature has done is to set up a system where the ability to provide abortions is contingent on the decision of a private institution and that's unconstitutional," Lester Pines, Planned Parenthood's attorney, told Huffington Post.