Why Don't Fetal Ultrasounds Prevent Abortion? The Answer Depends on Your Politics.

Today, The New York Times looked at the increasing popularity of fetal ultrasounds as a regulation for women seeking abortion. As NEWSWEEK noted in 2009, these laws—which are seen by anti-abortion proponents as a way to restrict abortion—have "been their most popular tactic and [have] been on an upswing in recent years."

But the article points out that as a restrictive measure, fetal ultrasounds may miss the mark.

In one of the few studies of the issue—there have been none in the United States—two abortion clinics in British Columbia found that 73 percent of patients wanted to see an image if offered the chance. Eighty-four percent of the 254 women who viewed sonograms said it did not make the experience more difficult, and none reversed her decision. That sentiment is repeated later in the article, when reporter Kevin Sack notes that not one woman he observed in his reporting changed their mind about the procedure after seeing the ultrasound—though some said it made them feel worse.

Though the goals of the pro- and anti-abortion rights movement may seem diametrically opposed, the idea of reducing the number of abortions performed is actually a shared goal of many in both groups. It's the methods by which abortion is reduced that causes the tension. And the wide application of the fetal ultrasound law—and it's inefficiency—demonstrates that deep divide.

Pro-abortion rights groups want better government funding of services for women, and more and better health care, flexibility, and options for working mothers. They cite data that women who terminate pregnancies do so because they feel unprepared and unable to care for a child. They look to the lower abortion rates in countries with universal health care and point to the fact that the majority of women who have abortion are not scared teenagers, but older women, many of whom already have children  For them, attacking abortion is about attacking poverty and inequity; they want to eliminate abortion by eliminating the reasons women seek one.

But for anti-abortion rights activists, abortion is about personal responsibility. Getting pregnant when you can't afford it, when you aren't married, when you aren't prepared is a personal failing, not a symptom of a larger structural problem. If you can't do the time, in other words, don't do the crime. They want to prevent people from making poor personal choices—specifically, one they see as both a moral failing and a violent act against an innocent life—by eliminating the ability to make that choice.

This clash of philosophies is nothing new: it's the fundamental disagreement within our political system. How much are we responsible for as individuals, and how much are our choices influenced and, in some cases limited, by circumstances outside of their control? And how many of those circumstances—health care, access to education, air quality—should the government be expected to change?

Unfortunately, the failure of fetal ultrasounds doesn’t help answer any of these questions. The reason for its failure is probably obvious to anyone who has an opinion on abortion—it's just that the reason will change depending on what that opinion is.

For the pro-choice readers, it’s obvious that seeing the fetal ultrasound doesn’t change the circumstances that brought women to the clinic: it doesn’t change the fact that they can’t afford a baby; or to miss any more time from work; that they’re single mothers or in abusive relationships; or just not ready to have a baby. It doesn’t change the fact that the system somehow failed, resulting in an unwanted pregnancy.

For the pro-life readers, it’s more evidence that some women can’t be convinced into making the right decision; that they can’t be trusted to act responsibly and unselfishly to save the life of an unborn child. To them, it’s all the more evidence that abortion should be outlawed entirely.

And for pregnant women who are unable, unready, or unprepared to have a child, it does nothing to help them figure out what to do next.