Only four days after Virginia shot down a similar measure, the Alabama State Senate is moving forward with a law that would require women to go through an invasive vaginal ultrasound procedure in order the get an abortion.

More specifically, the bill requires a doctor "to perform an ultrasound, provide verbal explanation of the ultrasound, and display the images to the pregnant woman before performing an abortion" that includes the situation "in which a probe is inserted into the vagina, and then moved around until an ultrasound image is produced." That sounds uncomfortable, and as the illustration to the right shows, it looks uncomfortable, too.

We found out about Alabama's new law-in-the-making from Think Progress's Health vertical, where writer Amanda Peterson Beadle sounds a bit upset about the idea. Even though studies have proven that viewing an ultrasound does not lead women to not have abortions, the bill’s sponsor says he hopes it will," Amanda notes. She adds, "The bill wouldn’t require an ultrasound if an abortion is necessary to save a woman’s life, but it does not allow the victims of sexual assault to opt out of viewing the ultrasound." 

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Adam Clark Estes