Thursday, November 20, 2008

Knitting Little Booties First



Amanda (of Pandagon) quipped that might become one of the requirements for getting an abortion in the state of Texas:

The ultrasound proposal, by Sen. Dan Patrick , R-Houston and state Rep. Frank Corte Jr., R-San Antonio, would require women who seek an abortion to first have an ultrasound — although they would not be required to view the image — and to listen to the fetal heartbeat.

"Once an ultrasound is performed, and a woman sees it, she may decide to change her mind and not have the procedure," Patrick said, "and that's a wonderful thing, if that woman decides to keep that baby or put it up for adoption."

A similar proposal passed the Senate last year but stalled in the House.

With Democrats gaining more seats in the House, the ultrasound bill's chances might be even worse this time, said Sherri Greenberg , a fellow at the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Amanda also pointed out that the ultrasound proposal assumes that most pregnant women are too stupid to realize that pregnancy means an embryo or a fetus inside that uterus thingy.

The proposal is unlikely to pass which is a good thing. Should we then ignore such proposals? I don't think so. They need to be dragged into daylight so that we are aware of all that's brewing in those wingnut political kitchens.