Coito ergo sum wrote:hadespussercats wrote:Coito ergo sum wrote:Prostate exams are always medically necessary, after a certain age (EDIT). Asking whether they are medically necessary is like asking if a mammogram is medically necessary. Of course it is, and should be done regularly.
20 weeks is five months pregnant. I am pro-choice, for sure. But, there does come a point in time when the UNFETTERED choice needs to bend to the reality that development has proceeded pretty far... I don't think that there is an equivalence between sperm and a 5 or 6 month fetus.
This was a satirical reference to the VA bill (I think it was Virginia) requiring all women who want an abortion to get an ultrasound first. Early-pregnancy ultrasounds are usually performed with a transvaginal wand-- essentially a camera dildo-- which lends an air of sexual violation to the procedure, when it's forced on women when not medically necessary.
well, I think those laws that are subjecting women to such procedures to -- as I understand it -- make sure they really "know" what they're doing - are stupid and cruel. Either the abortion is legal under the circumstances, or it isn't. Either the procedure is medically necessary, or it isn't.
I wouldn't have legislators prescribing medical treatment, but there does - to me - and I am open to be persuaded otherwise - there does come a time when the unborn fetus or whatever someone wants to call it is a bit far along in development that it ought not be killed without there being a pretty good reason. That is the compromise in Roe v Wade anyway -- States can regulate abortions in the second trimester, and can prohibit abortions in the third (except for life/health blah blah). Everyone seems to be all in favor of Roe v Wade, so there does seem to be room in most people's mind for restrictions and regulations depending on how far along the pregnancy is.
Regarding the bolded bit-- I tend to agree with you. But there's always the health of the mother to consider, and the possibility of finding out late about some really terrible malformation or other problem, and I'd be leery of the possibility of legislating away important options (I realize you've acknowledged that too.) Just the difficulty of how to determine what "a really good reason" is-- though, depending how late you are in a pregnancy, most abortion procedures become more difficult/potentially dangerous to the mother (contrasted with early on, when abortions are generally safer than carrying to term.)
Ideally, I think women should have access to good doctors who would provide them with good information and offer all necessary services, including referrals to counselors or what have you if a woman needed someone to talk through her decision with-- so that few women would find themselves that far along and still trying to figure out what to do.
Of course, there's still the possibility of a woman needing to save up the money for the procedure-- and we could talk about what should or shouldn't be done about that until the cows come home. But let's not.
