Forced Sonograms?

In Lauren Campbell's article, The Way I See it, she argues that the Texas law requiring women to have a sonogram 24 hours prior to having an abortion is reasonable. I personally disagree with that, and believe that it is not acceptable. Women should not be manipulated in such a way when faced with an already terribly difficult decision. Lauren argues that the law provides the fetus the right to be seen for what it really is, a baby, that words like "fetus" serve to dehumanize it, and that the law is trying to get women to realize what they are really doing when having an abortion. 

First of all, this is not at all scientifically accurate, as a fetus is not a baby, but an entirely separate stage in human development, and the term is not intended to be dehumanizing, but an accurate description. We might as well start calling each individual sperm or egg a baby now, since it's just as correct. To state that a mandatory sonogram is necessary for a woman to "realize exactly what they are doing" is almost insulting to the entire gender. It seems to imply that women have absolutely no clue how abortions work, like they think some fairy comes and magically makes them un-pregnant. Of course women are aware that terminating their pregnancy means that they are killing the unborn fetus - that's why it's such a difficult decision. 

Lauren goes on to ask, "which do you think would be worse: having a baby as a teen mom, and either keeping it or giving it up for adoption, OR making a ... decision to have an abortion and possibly going on to regret it later in life?" To me, the answer to this question seems entirely obvious - going through 9 months of pregnancy and the mood swings, depression, weight gain, and all the other terrible things that accompany it, only to be followed by a painful, not to mention expensive, childbirth to keep or give the baby for adoption is clearly much worse of an option. Keeping a child is often an irresponsible idea, as it is very unlikely that mothers who would be considering abortions are financially or emotionally capable of adequately taking care of a child. As this article describes in greater depth, adoption, while it may seem like the nobler course of action, is also very difficult. It’s costly, and on top of that quite unsuccessful – thousands of American children are currently being held under state care without being adopted. It’s not as simple as handing your baby to a new family once it’s born.

The choice to have an abortion is an incredibly difficult one, and the new law requiring sonograms while a woman is most emotionally vulnerable only makes the decision harder. The law is not intended to simply allow women to "think twice" about their decision, but to forcibly persuade them to change their mind. It is cruel and manipulative, and should be revoked as soon as possible.