Michigan Pro-Life Measure Would Offer Women an Informed 'Choice'
by Mary Rettig
June 7, 2005
(AgapePress) - A pro-life lawmaker in Michigan says anyone who says they are "pro-choice" ought to have no problem with his bill that would require abortion providers to give women the opportunity to view ultrasound images of their babies.Representative David Robertson says his legislation (House Bill 4446) passed easily through the Michigan House on a 69-37 vote. The bill is now before the Senate Health Policy Committee, but Robertson says he is confident it will pass there as well. He explains that under the bill, a woman would have a choice whether to look at the ultrasound images -- but the abortion provider must offer the option. It is just a reinforcement of Michigan's "Informed Consent on Abortion" law, he says.
"Before women have an abortion, they need full and complete information on the nature of what they're doing," the lawmaker says. "Since ... passage [of the Informed Consent on Abortion law] in 1993, ultrasound technology has not only become more commonplace, but far more technologically advanced. So it was my belief that this technology should be used in the furtherance of being fully informed."
The state representative sees a major hurdle, however, to his bill's passage: Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who is threatening to veto the measure.
"She's continually professed a personal abhorrence to abortion and a desire to see it more rare," Robertson remarks. "[But] I submit that since the decision to view the ultrasound image rests entirely with the woman -- that is, she chooses to look at the ultrasound screen and, if as a result, she chooses not to have an abortion -- then those who continually insist that they are pro-choice and not pro-abortion ... should remove their opposition to the bill and support its passage."
Robertson says he is working on getting a two-thirds majority in Michigan's Legislature to save the measure in case Governor Granholm follows through with her veto threat.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
