Drop the abortion ultrasound mandate

It wasn't difficult to predict that North Carolina's new abortion law would take a rocky and costly journey through the courts.

The first such bump came yesterday, when a federal judge blocked a part of the law that required abortion providers to place an ultrasound image next to the pregnant women, as well as describe its features and offer a chance to hear a heartbeat.

It's a mandate that's callous, intrusive and costly - not only to the pregnant woman, but to all of us. The state should drop it from the abortion law.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles said that North Carolina officials haven't provided evidence to support their assertions that the law would promote childbirth, and she rightly ridiculed the notion that the provision would protect pregnant women from distress, saying that forcing an ultrasound on them would "harm the psychological health of the very group the state purports to protect."

Plus, Eagles said, there's a bigger issue: The Supreme Court historically frowns upon the government compelling content-based speech. In other words, freedom of speech means having the right not to say something.

It's important to note that Eagles upheld the bulk of the abortion law, which also mandated that a woman wait 24 hours before having an abortion performed so that she can contemplate information about abortion risks and alternatives. The waiting period, which is similar to laws in 20 other states, is a reasonable pause to contemplate a critical decision, but the N.C. law requires that physicians use that 24 hours to inform the patient about items such as risks, alternatives, the age of the baby on the day of the abortion, and that the father would have to pay for child care if she kept the baby. As with the ultrasound, forcing doctors to say these things may run against freedom of speech principles.

If information is what lawmakers want women to have, however, they should also help efforts to educate women on abortion and alternatives. Instead, N.C. legislators approved a bill this summer that targeted Planned Parenthood by attempting to block federal funds for its family planning and teen pregnancy programs. A federal judge said whoa to that piece of spiteful legislation, too.

Eagles has scheduled another hearing on the ultrasound provision for December, and the N.C. attorney general's office said Tuesday that attorneys were reviewing the ruling. We think the attorney general should stop wasting taxpayer dollars defending a flawed regulation, and lawmakers should focus their efforts toward preventing abortions through legitimate counseling and education, not by bullying their way into a doctor's office.

Peter St. Onge