Illinois State Rep. Tom Morrison of Palatine, whom ICE-PAC helped elect, recently introduced two important pieces of pro-life legislation:

• A requirement that women be required to wait 24 hours and be offered an image from their ultrasound before having an abortion (see the bill here)
• A requirement that any abortion clinic must have the operating physician present after the abortion until the patient goes home following the procedure, and that a physician performing abortions must have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital (see the bill here)

Read more details in the Daily Herald by clicking here.

Women in Tennessee soon may have to get an ultrasound before an abortion, under a bill filed in the state legislature.

State Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, has filed a measure that would require women to undergo a “transabdominal ultrasound” and wait at least 24 hours before going forward with an abortion.

Tennessee currently does not require women to have an ultrasound before an abortion, in part because the state Constitution has its own privacy clause. That has so far limited lawmakers’ ability to place restrictions on women seeking to end a pregnancy.

For that reason, Tracy’s proposal would almost certainly face a court challenge.

Source: WBIR.com

The Idaho ultrasound bill that has been the subject of an extremely aggressive campaign from pro-choice opponents met a sudden end this week despite a strong showing in the state Senate.

Like similar recent bills in Virginia and Texas, Idaho’s measure would have required abortionists to perform an ultrasound on mothers prior to an abortion, and to inform them of their right to see the ultrasound image of their child at their discretion.

The bill, which passed 23-12 in the state Senate, was on track for consideration this week before Republican Rep. Tom Loertscher announced Tuesday that he would not schedule the hearing. Idaho’s 3-month legislative session ends this week, and will not reconvene until January 2013.

Source: LifeSiteNews.com

Idaho senators approved a measure requiring all women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion. Monday’s 23-12 vote sends the bill to the House.

Idaho’s measure, similar to Texas and Virginia laws, requires a doctor performing an abortion or prescribing medication to terminate a pregnancy to conduct a fetal ultrasound. The woman would have the option of viewing the image and listening to a heartbeat.

Source: CBSNews.com

On Tuesday, February 21, House Bill 4085, the Ultrasound Opportunity Act, passed a House committee by a vote of 10 to 2. The bill now goes to the full House of Representatives for their consideration. We expect a vote in the next few weeks. This bill simply requires that a woman seeking an abortion, after 7 weeks gestation, be offered the opportunity to receive and view an ultrasound of her baby by the physician who is to perform the abortion, the referring physician, or another qualified person working in conjunction with either physician.

Please contact your Illinois State Representative now and ask him or her to “vote YES on House Bill 4085, for informed consent and for the opportunity for women to see an utlrasound of their unborn babies.” If you do not know who your state representative is, you can look it up at www.ilga.gov and click on Legislator Lookup in the bottom right column. Thanks for all you do in support of life.

A federal judge heard Monday from attorneys for abortion providers urging that enforcement of a North Carolina law set to take effect next week should be blocked because the additional hurdles for women and doctors are unconstitutional.

The abortion rules, which became law after the Republican-led General Assembly overrode Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue’s veto, set more ultrasound requirements for medical professionals among other restrictions. The physician or someone working with the doctor must put the electronic image of the fetus in front of the pregnant woman at least four hours before the procedure, describe what the woman may view and offer her the chance to listen to the fetal heartbeat.

Bebe Anderson, a lawyer with the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, argued these “extreme measures” exceed what the U.S. Supreme Court has permitted states to regulate abortion by subjecting women to images they may not want to see, and violates the medical ethics of doctors who feel the government is forcing them to carry out the legislature’s ideology.

Source: MyFox8.com

A new bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn, would require abortion providers to make an unborn child’s heartbeat visible and audible to its mother in order for her to give her informed consent for an abortion.

“A pregnant woman who enters an abortion clinic is faced with a decision that will forever change two lives,” said Bachmann. “That’s why she must have the very best information with which to make that decision.”

The Heartbeat Informed Consent Act, which was introduced in Congress on Oct. 6, is similar to laws in several states that require a pregnant woman to be given the chance to see ultrasound images of her unborn child before she chooses to have an abortion.

Source: National Catholic Register

The American Civil Liberties Union and four other groups sued to
challenge a new North Carolina law requiring abortion providers to
display and describe ultrasound images of a fetus. The suit, filed in
federal court today, alleges that the statute violates the
constitutional rights of women and healthcare providers and intrudes on
women’s private lives. The statute, passed by the Republican-controlled
state legislature in July over the veto of Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue,
also requires a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion.

The suit seeks an injunction to block the law, which is set to take
effect Oct. 26. Legal challenges have temporarily blocked similar laws
in Texas and Oklahoma. At least 20 states have passed laws that require
ultrasounds for women seeking abortions, and North Carolina is the third
state to require a provider to place ultrasound images in a woman’s
line of sight and to describe them in detail.

Source: Los Angeles Times

A pro-life campaign called “Voices from the Womb” will perform live
ultrasounds on pregnant women on Capitol Hill as part of the launch of a
national campaign in October. All 535 members of Congress and the
public will be invited to the presentation. After the showing on Capitol
Hill, “Voices from the Womb” will begin a national tour performing live
ultrasounds in schools, churches, state capitals and public hearings.

The pro-life movement has worked for state legislation requiring that
women seeking abortions be offered the opportunity to view an ultrasound
before having the procedure. ICE-PAC is working to pass such a law in
Illinois.

Source: The Florida Independent

Texas cannot require women to view an ultrasound 24 hours before undergoing an abortion, a federal judge in Austin ruled Tuesday. The law, which would have taken effect on Thursday, required physicians to describe in detail the size of the fetus and its organs and make available audio of any fetal heartbeat.

U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks ruled those provisions violated the First Amendment by forcing doctors to engage in government-mandated speech. He argued that these requirements would dissuade competent doctors from performing abortions and make it significantly more difficult for pregnant women to obtain abortions.

Source: Politico