Ultrasound making in-roads in pro-life arena; So. Dakota latest to join (OneNewsNow.com)

Ultrasound making in-roads in pro-life arena; So. Dakota latest to join

Marty Cooper - OneNewsNow - 4/5/2008 6:00:00 AM

baby ultrasound South Dakota enacted new legislation last month in an effort to further its pro-life campaign and to stop abortions. That measure incorporates ultrasound technology that, according to pro-life activists, plays a major role in many women changing their mind and sparing the life of their baby.

National Right to Life recently reported that South Dakota joined the ranks of 11 other states by passing a Senate Bill requiring abortion facilities to give a woman seeking an abortion an opportunity to see an ultrasound of her unborn child and to hear the heartbeat, if possible, before going through with the abortion procedure. South Dakota is the 12th state to enact this legislation; other states include Mississippi, Idaho, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, Utah, Wisconsin and Louisiana.

The National Right to Life (NRL) press release says the bill is "reflective of a national trend that recognizes the ability of ultrasound technology to provide mothers with the opportunity to see the development of their unborn child in real-time." It also notes that, because abortion is a permanent act, women deserve to be thoroughly informed about all aspects of their decision before making it, including a chance to see their baby.

'Amazing window to the womb'

South Dakota's newly enacted bill is nearly identical to the bill Mississippi passed almost a year ago. According to another NRL press release, Mississippi was the eighth state to enact the legislation. It also mentions giving women all the facts before they make a life-or-death decision like abortion, noting that ultrasound technology gives women an "amazing window to the womb." MS Senate Bill 2391 states that, before a qualified physician performs an abortion procedure, he or she is required by law to:

Perform fetal ultrasound imaging and auscultation of fetal heart tone services on the patient undergoing abortion;
Offer to provide the patient with an opportunity to view the active ultrasound image of the unborn child and hear the heartbeat of the unborn child if the heartbeat is audible;
Offer to provide the patient with a physical picture of the ultrasound image of the unborn child; and
Obtain the patient's signature on a certification form stating that the patient has been given the opportunity to view the active ultrasound image and hear the heartbeat of the unborn child if the heartbeat is audible, and that she has been offered a physical picture of the ultrasound image.

The patient does not have to look at the ultrasound, but it must be performed. And the clinic must have written consent about whether she chooses to view the ultrasound.

Making the technology available

In 2004, during Sanctity of Human Life month, Focus on the Family (FOTF) and Heartlink.org created the Operation Ultrasound Program (OUP). In his January newsletter that year, Dr. James Dobson, CEO of FOTF, said he felt God calling him to help strengthen pregnancy resource centers (PRC) nationwide because the abortion industry "has treated preborn babies like non-persons whose lives mean nothing in the eyes of the law" for the past 31 years.

OUP will provide ultrasound machines to examining rooms at PRCs across the U.S. "Our board of directors has authorized us to help provide ultrasound equipment to as many centers as possible and help shepherd them through the training and implementation process .... Each of those children is worth more than the possessions of the entire world and is imbued with an eternal soul that will live forever in the world to come," Dr. Dobson cites as his reason for helping.

Statistics* show that 89 percent of women who see their unborn children in an ultrasound when seeking an abortion opt out of it and keep the baby. Women with this option are far less likely to seek abortions than those without access to such an option.

Dobson notes the heartbreaking statistic that, in 2004, nearly 45 million babies had been sacrificed since Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973. The number is bound to have increased since then, thus his reason for developing OUP. OUP exists to better equip PRCs to function as medical clinics by offering ultrasound services.

In order to qualify for OUP, a PRC completes a series of applications. Once the applications are approved by the FOTF board, the executive director of the PRC, along with a board member, attends a regional meeting to gather more information about OUP. After attending the meeting, an OUP representative will assess the requesting PRC and spend time helping them to meet the necessary requirements to get their ultrasound machine. The representative will then come to the clinic for over two days of on-site training. FOTF covers 80 percent of the cost of the ultrasound machine and sonography training. The PRC must pay the other 20 percent.

MS center seeks the resource

Melissa Gunner is director of Sav-a-Life of Tupelo, MS, a regional pregnancy resource center and a national affiliate of Care Net. She says her PRC is in the early stages of applying for eligibility for the Option Ultrasound Program. The Sav-a-Life board voted in December 2007 to begin the application process to turn this local center into a clinic.

Gunner says a local OBGYN physician contacted FOTF about the program and discovered that the PRC must pay 20 percent of the cost out-of-pocket. So this doctor did just that -- he donated the necessary 20 percent so Save-a-Life would be covered when that part of the assessment comes along.

A post-abortive, born-again Christian, Gunner had two abortions when she was a teenager and has since come to know Jesus as her Lord and Savior, married a Christian man, and has three sons. She strongly agrees with the statistic that women who have the option to see their preborn babies in an ultrasound will likely choose to keep them.

"Twenty years ago, if I had the option to see an ultrasound, I'd have two more children today," Gunner says.

Even though Sav-a-Life is not currently set up for in-house ultrasounds, clients still have access to receive ultrasounds from a local physician free of charge. Gunner says if an abortion-minded girl agrees to see an ultrasound of her unborn child, a person at her center calls to schedule a visit, which usually occurs that day or the next morning. The doctor then voluntarily follows up with the client the next day to see how she is doing.

Gunner looks forward to completing her local center's qualifications and being set up as a pregnancy resource clinic with an ultrasound machine. Heartlink.org and the Option Ultrasound Program note that "tens of thousands of women will never forget the day they first saw the image of their baby, kicking their feet and waving their arms on the ultrasound monitor. They will recall the day that their heart was changed, with gratitude they can hardly put into words, and they will be forever thankful that they had the opportunity to choose life, all because someone cared enough to give them the option of seeing an ultrasound."

Gunner could not agree more and looks forward to the day she can extend this helping hand to females of all ages and backgrounds who come into her clinic searching for answers and needing God's care.