CRR Files Lawsuit Challenging Texas Abortion Sonogram Law
(PRESS RELEASE) Today, the Center for Reproductive
Rights filed a class action lawsuit
against Texas’ new abortion ultrasound law on behalf of Texas medical providers
performing abortions and their patients. The law prohibits a woman from getting
an abortion unless the doctor providing the abortion performs an ultrasound on
the woman, takes steps to show and describe the ultrasound images to her, and
plays the sound of the fetal heart. The
doctor must personally place the images where the woman can see them, and
describe the images in detail, regardless of her wishes. The woman must then
wait at least 24-hours before she can obtain an abortion (the waiting period is
two-hours for women who live more than 100 miles from an abortion
provider). With the enactment of this
law, Texas joins Oklahoma in having the most extreme ultrasound requirements in
the country.
“This law barges in on the
doctor-patient relationship” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for
Reproductive Rights. “When you go to the doctor, you expect to be given
information that is relevant to your particular medical decisions and
circumstances, not to be held hostage and subjected to an anti-choice agenda.”
The Center argues that the ultrasound
requirements violate the First Amendment rights of both the doctor and the
patient by forcing physicians to deliver politically-motivated communications
to women, regardless of their wishes.
The Center also argues that the law discriminates against women by
subjecting them to paternalistic “protections” not imposed on men.
“This law is patronizing to women in
Texas. It is based on outdated stereotypes that women are too immature or too
incompetent to make important decisions,” said Northup. “It’s as if the
politician has charged into the doctor’s office and told the woman, ‘Honey, you
just don’t understand what you are doing.
Let me explain it to you and tell you what to do.’”
In addition, the Center argues that the
ultrasound requirements violate basic principles of medical ethics and serve no
medical purpose.
The Center filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for
the Western District of Texas in Austin, on behalf of Texas Medical Providers Performing Abortion Services, a
plaintiff class of physicians and medical facilities that provide abortions. The
class members bring the suit on behalf of themselves and their patients seeking
abortion. The class is represented by plaintiffs Metropolitan Ob-Gyn, P.A., D/B/A Reproductive Services
of San Antonio and Dr. Alan Braid.
