Planned Parenthood & Co. are aggressively lobbying to ban the free ultrasounds offered by pregnancy resource centers. The abortion trade is apparently dismayed by the fact that most pregnant women who have ultrasounds choose life: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43929
Huck, many people are concerned that sonograms should be a MEDICAL TEST. There are places in malls which will do U/Ss for you, not done by medical professionals. There is some concern about the problems in animals when their babies in utero are exposed to massive amounts of sonogram waves. Air bubbles can occur, there have been reports of growth restriction ect. If a medical professional needs to do an U/S that is one thing. But an ultrasound machine is not a toy, nor are repeated ultrasounds good for the developing fetus. I gotta tell you. I was amazed seeing my babies on U/S. My doc only does them for medical reasons, though. I know plenty of womyn who had pre abortion sonograms, who had the test change nothing about their decision. Having sonograms as a form of entertainment is not good. Anyone who really cares about fetuses will feel this way.
Article about the little known risks of repeated ultrasounds. This was printed in Mothering Magazine and was taken from the Mothering.com website. There are other articles there about the risks of routine U/Ss.
This excerpt from a Chicago Tribune editorial (quoted in the article I cited above) puts these alleged health concerns in perspective.
Of course, I would agree that ultrasound should not be used to target "unfit" babies for termination!
I don't think U/Ss should be illegal. But the article I posted shows that routine U/S may actually INCREASE the rate of abortion, and fetal problems, something I think you would want to avoid. NO?
But, Huck, "targeting" unfit babies, as you put it, is one the MAIN reasons many womyn have U/Ss. (I sure didn't I had NO "diagnostic" prenatal tests, except one on the day my last baby was born, to make sure her lungs were mature.) But many many womyn use U/S to "target" as you say. From the article, in case you missed it:
It sounds like we agree that informed consent is preferable to a draconian ban. Maybe you should contact Planned Parenthood and tell them to back off.
The article you posted had a LOT of misinformation in it, including the wrong "fact" that U/Ss are "harmless" and HALF AN HOUR! That is way too much U/S radiation for any fetus,who isn't at risk for a major, fixable problem. I wouldn't let any of my babies be U/Sed for that long. Certianly not for "entertainment" purposes. These mall kiosks are not run by HCPs and the amount of U/S radiation put out by these, usually old, machines are not controlled by anyone. These "entertainment" U/Ss do more harm than good.
I seriously doubt that (1) pregnancy resource centers offer them for this reason, (2) most women seek them for this reason, and (3) ultrasounds generally increase the likelihood of abortion. The motivation of abortionists seeking to ban elective ultrasounds seems obvious.
I think we agree about some things, but not this. (I agree about regulations of these machines, including that they should ONLY be run by trained HCPs for diagnostic purposes.) The article you posted was touting the benefits of those very mall U/S kiosks. There is proof that at least one in 200 babies aborted due to U/S results were actually healthy (the article I posted had plenty of references) and I certainly know womyn who only had abortions after they had the U/Ss. In fact in places like India and China, these very machines are used to identify baby girls FOR abortions.
In India, the ultrasound was made illegal not too long ago, because after ultrasound becoming more common and more available to women, the amount of baby girls being born just dropped so dramatically in less than a decade. It was found out that women would go to ultrasound to find out whether the fetus is a boy or a girl, and if it was a girl they'd get an abortion.
I don't think they are illegal totally, just for sex selection. But old machines are SO easy to get (often they get them when American or European Hospitals toss them away.) that many underground clinics have them, and womyn who only want boys go to these clinics all the time. In China, there are also villages where the men outnumber the womyn 10:1. All because of misuse of the ultrasound. I think the Prolife Movement needs to rethink their love of these machines for anything other than medical use.
Um, we're not talking about India or China here: http://www.family.org/pregnancy/ultrasound/a0030349.cfm
In Canada, the most common reason for U/S is dating the pregnancy ( maybe it's the same in United States?) but that seems like a pretty lame excuse in most cases doesn't it? I loved seeing my first 2 babies ultrasounds, before I knew the risks. With my 3rd I said no to the routine 20 week scan. I had read about the possible side effects and decided it wasn't worth it. Of course I would for medical reasons, but not so I can have a photo to show, or to get dates confirmed since I knew the exact date of conception, lol! I'm pro choice BUT the thought of choosing gender by U/S and terminating an unwanted gender, that is sooooo disturbing eta - just wanted to add that although i am pro choice, i wouldn't abort a baby of mine because of an U/S result. I never did any of the other tests with any of my babies. i knew that i would take whatever baby came to me. And i did kathy
Huck, I mentioned India and China to show that U/S can and IS used to cause abortion. This also happens in the US (not to mention the abortions which are caused by the womyn being told there is a problem with the fetus during the scan. And often these are wrong.
Given the results of surveys conducted by PRCs offering ultrasounds and Planned Parenthood's campaign against them, I wager that they prevent far more abortions than they might cause in the US.