Abortion foes hope to use ultrasound to further cause

Associated Press, February 17, 2002

NEW YORK - Convinced that a look inside the womb will dissuade many pregnant women from abortion, anti-abortion activists hope to provide ultrasound equipment to hundreds of pregnancy centers that promote alternatives like adoption. Congressional allies are drafting a bill that would provide federal funding for the project, which abortion-rights groups oppose.

"They're using medical technology as political propaganda," said Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Feldt said most so-called crisis pregnancy centers - also known as pregnancy help centers - are guided by an anti-abortion agenda that could override a woman's best interests.

Backers of the ultrasound initiative confirm that their goal is to reduce abortion, but they say their strategy is noncoercive and that they're simply giving pregnant women more information.

"When they get the information to make an informed choice - once they see the ultrasound - the majority of women chose to carry the pregnancy to term," said Tom Glessner, president of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates. Glessner says his institute represents 750 pregnancy centers across the United States, out of a total of more than 2,000 that counsel pregnant women on alternatives to abortion.

His goal is to have 1,000 centers equipped with ultrasound and certified to use it by 2010. Some centers are acquiring ultrasound equipment with private funds.

An ally of Glessner's in Congress, Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, plans to introduce a bill that would help many others by allocating up to $3 million to acquire ultrasound. Centers could qualify for funding regardless of the ideological tilt of their staff, but Stearns is clear about his intention.

"When a woman looks at the ultrasound, she'll have the full measure of what it means to see a live person in the making," he said. "Our long-term goal is to reduce the number of abortions." Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, said ultrasound is a valuable technology that is being misused by abortion foes.

"It never fails to amaze me how little respect they have for women's capacity to understand what goes on in our bodies," Michelman said. "I faced a crisis pregnancy after having three children, and I didn't need anyone to show me a sonogram to inform me that my pregnancy would result in giving birth to a person."

Supporters of Stearns' bill "have one purpose in mind - to intimidate women out of choosing abortion, and using government money to do that," Michelman said. "That is wrong."

Abortion-rights groups have campaigned for years against crisis pregnancy centers, accusing them of deceptive and coercive attempts to manipulate women who may be unaware of the centers' ideological bent. "They don't provide true medical care," said Feldt. "What they do is malpractice, by not giving women unbiased information on all their options." After abortion-rights groups applied pressure, Yellow Pages directories now list crisis pregnancy centers under the heading of "abortion alternatives," often accompanied by a note explaining that these agencies do not provide counseling on abortion.

"More women are learning to be cautious about where they go for help, but a lot of women are unsuspecting," Michelman said. In New York state, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is investigating pregnancy centers after receiving complaints of deception.