TALLAHASSEE - A woman seeking an abortion in Florida would have to wait 24 hours before going through with it under a bill passed Friday by the state House. The measure could also make it more likely that she would see an ultrasound image of the fetus before undergoing the procedure.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Trey Traviesa, R-Orlando, would require abortion providers perform ultrasounds before almost all abortions, instead of just those in the second or third trimesters as required by current law.

Viewing the images would be optional, but women would have to sign waivers stating they declined the doctors' offers to do so.

Is it just me, or does the world seem upside down? "You are welcome to go ahead and kill your baby, but would you just wait 24 hours? Also, we want the abortionist to do an ultrasound, and we'd like you to look at it, and if you don't want to that's okay, but just sign a statement that the doctor offered you the chance."

Last month we refinanced our house. We closed on a Thursday but the new loan did not disburse until Monday, because in Texas the consumer has a 3-day right of rescission (defined as "the act of rescinding; the cancellation of a contract and the return of the parties to the positions they would have had if the contract had not been made; rescission may be brought about by decree or by mutual consent"). So even though all the papers were signed and in order, they sat on ice over a long weekend while we made sure we really did want a lower interest rate and several thousand dollars of equity for home improvements.

However, even though in Florida you have three days to back out of an encyclopedia purchase, you can wake up in the morning, decide to kill your baby and get it done before lunch. Your baby has no right of rescission. And you, if you acted in a moment of panic or threat or despair, have no ability to rescind either your decision or the act.

Unfortunately, there's not much chance that even these meager measures will be adopted:

The House may be as far as that idea goes this year, however, with the waiting period and the effort to require more pre-abortion ultrasounds unlikely to be accepted by the Senate.

The Senate hasn't considered either the waiting period or the ultrasound idea, and even backers of the proposal have acknowledged the bill is unlikely to pass the Senate, which is a generally more moderate body.

Apparently, a contract with a living human being isn't as binding as one with a shady encyclopedia salesman...

House OKs bill requiring waiting time, ultrasound before abortions

Labels: Political Observation, Social Observation