House panel considers ultrasound requirement before abortions

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- All women seeking an abortion would first have to have an ultrasound and be given the opportunity to view the results under a measure approved by a Florida House committee Thursday.

But a more controversial requirement that would have forced women to wait 24 hours before having the procedure was dropped in the face of opposition from moderates in the Legislature.

The House Healthcare Council was scheduled to take up a broad bill that included the waiting period, but the bill sponsor, Rep. Trey Traviesa, R-Orlando, dropped the 24-hour wait, acknowledging that it wouldn't likely pass in the more moderate Senate.

Florida already requires ultrasounds on any women seeking abortions in the second or third trimester. The bill would require ultrasounds before all abortions, and compel abortion providers to tell the woman she has the option of viewing the sonogram.

The woman wouldn't have to view the image under the legislation.

However, the bill also requires someone at the clinic to "contemporaneously review and explain the live ultrasound images to the woman," unless she is a victim of a sexual assault. The bill doesn't say whether the woman can ask not to hear that explanation.

The bill (HB 257) passed through the committee with a 10-6 vote and has one more committee stop before the House floor.

Florida would join several other states that have tried to require or make it more likely that women would see an ultrasound image as part of requirements to have an abortion in the state. Just last week a similar measure became law in South Dakota. Kentucky is considering legislation that would not only require the ultrasound, but make it mandatory that the woman view it.

But far more controversial in Florida is the 24-hour waiting period that was originally part of the bill. A similar waiting period was passed last year in the House but died in the Senate.

It likely wouldn't have passed the more moderate Senate this year either, said Sen. Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden, one of the most conservative members of the Senate and the sponsor of the ultrasound measure there.

He didn't include the waiting period in his bill because, he said, "I filed what I thought we could pass."

Supporters of the ultrasound requirement said women about to undergo an abortion should have as much information as possible.

Dottie Rathel, the director of a clinic in Gainesville that provides pregnancy testing, ultrasounds and other prenatal services -- but doesn't do abortions -- said she had an abortion as a scared teen in 1978. She said she suffered emotional trauma and guilt afterward and might not have had the procedure if she had been given more information.

"I didn't know that my child had arms and fingers and legs and toes," Rathel told the committee. "In order for someone to have choices, they must have options and they must be educated on those options. Ultrasound is one of the many tools that can do that."

But Rep. Kelly Skidmore, a Boca Raton Democrat who voted against the bill, said the bill is an attempt to discourage women from having abortions -- and that having women look at ultrasounds doesn't serve any medical purpose.

"It is another attempt to chip away at the reproductive rights of a woman," Skidmore said.

Traviesa disputed that.

"This does not remove choice, it ensures the choice is an informed one," Traviesa said.

The House bill also still contains one other new requirement that would affect cases in which minors want to have an abortion without their parent finding out, which is usually required by law.

Florida's parental notice law allows a girl to have an abortion without telling her parents if a judge approves it. But judges have said that's a difficult decision they sometimes aren't equipped to make. The House bill would require judges to assign special guardians, known as guardians ad litem, to girls in such cases to help judges determine what is in the best interest of the girl seeking the abortion. The provision isn't in the Senate bill.

The House panel rejected a proposal to provide $1 million for the courts to help them recruit guardians for the programs.

It also rejected a proposal to provide $1 million for clinics to buy ultrasound equipment.

Backers of the bill said the money wasn't necessary in the case of the ultrasound equipment because most facilities where abortions are performed already have them. Even though they're not required in the first trimester, many abortion providers do them anyway to determine the age of the fetus.

Those abortion providers who do ultrasounds anyway -- even though not required to do them -- are compelled to ask the woman if she wants to see the image before they can perform the abortion in at least eight states, though not in Florida.

At least six states, including Florida, require ultrasounds for at least some women seeking abortions, though not all require the woman to view the image.

In 2006, the last year for which statistics were available, 95,586 pregnancies were terminated in Florida.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)