An abortion advocacy law firm fighting the Texas sonogram law is dissatisfied that an appellate three-judge panel ruled last week that the “intrustive” sonogram law is not only constitutional, but should be implemented immediately. The firm is seeking a rehearing before the entire 5th Circuit court.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing abortionists across Texas in a class-action lawsuit, said in an official statement yesterday that the sonogram law violates the First Amendment rights of physicians “by compelling them to advance an ideological agenda.” The group also complains that the law is too vague for abortionists to follow.
The sonogram law requires abortionists or licensed sonographers to show women a pre-abortion ultrasound. They are to describe the unborn child’s stage of development, as well as make the child’s heartbeat audible for the mother to hear.
“We are not surprised that the Center for Reproductive Rights is unrelenting with this lawsuit,” said Elizabeth Graham, Director of Texas Right to Life. “Abortion providers have a financial interest in keeping the window to the womb closed. Because approximately 70 percent of women will choose Life after seeing the child on the screen, Planned Parenthood and its ilk lose money when women leave their abortuaries still pregnant. The Center for Reproductive Rights is afraid to empower women with the truth.”
The United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said that “the required disclosures of a sonogram, the fetal heartbeat, and their medical descriptions are the epitome of truthful, non-misleading information.”