Pro-Abortion Rape Myth Debunked, 99% of Abortion Clinics Do Ultrasounds

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | | 2/22/12 11:57 AM







Similar numbers were seen regarding vaginal ultrasounds before a mifepristone abortion.


UPDATE: Commentary magazine reporter Alana Goodman indicates one Planned Parenthood officials has admitted Planned Parenthood policy already requires ultrasounds before abortion procedures.





Getting back to the 2003 study, the report’s authors also noted that the frequency of the use of vaginal ultrasounds before abortion is not limited to the abortion centers surveyed, but common practice in the abortion industry.



“If there is a positive pregnancy test but no gestational sac visible on the vaginal ultrasound, only 15 (22%) of the sites will perform a surgical abortion. If no gestational tissue is seen in the tissue examination, 55 (76%) of the sites usually follow with serum -hCG, 46 (64%) usually send for pathological examination, 26 (36%) usually repeat the aspiration and 53 (74%) usually perform a vaginal ultrasound,” it said.

Moreover, the study indicated abortion facility staff cited a need for more staff trained in performing vaginal ultrasounds so the RU 486 abortion drug could be used at a higher frequency.

The study said, “Respondents were asked whether or not their site had experienced each of 13 obstacles to initiating early surgical abortion services (listed in Fig. 2). The majority of sites [50 (69%)] reported one or more major obstacles to start-up of early surgical services. Among these sites, the three obstacles most often cited were the challenges of providing additional staff training in the areas of vaginal ultrasound [27 (38%)]…. Table 4 describes the sites’ current experience of providing early surgical abortion services. Fewer than half of the sites [31 (43%)] reported experiencing one or more major obstacles to current service provision. The three most commonly named obstacles were providing additional staff training in vaginal ultrasound techniques [14 (19%)].”

If Planned Parenthood and abortion advocates truly believe giving women an ultrasound is similar to rape, they should be up front about the fact that women are “raped” before virtually every abortion performed in the United States. The real question is whether women will be allowed to see an ultrasound, not whether they will be required to have one — Planned Parenthood and independent abortion facilities already essentially require it.