Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Radio show host-turned-Senator Dan Patrick authored the sonogram legislation

AUSTIN – Women undergoing an abortion in Texas would be required to have a sonogram first under a bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday over protests from critics who say the measure is meant to harass those women.
 

The measure would require that a sonogram be performed on the woman before the abortion and that the physician discuss the sonogram with her. The woman would be provided with the image but not be required to look at it.
 

Senators approved the bill on a 21-8 vote, with all the dissenting votes cast by Democrats. One Republican, Kel Seliger of Amarillo, abstained. The proposal now goes to the House.
 

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, author of the bill, said his goal was to protect the health of women obtaining an abortion, but he acknowledged his hope that some women might reconsider their decision after viewing an ultrasound image of their abdomen.
 

"I think if a woman sees this, it might well change her mind," Mr. Patrick told other senators.
 

Democratic senators accused the Houston Republican of trying to put up roadblocks to women exercising their legal right to an abortion.
 

"All you're trying to do is harass women who are trying to get an abortion," said Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen. "You're trying to make these women feel guilty and at the same time you're raising the cost of the procedure for them."
 

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, said the legislation would make Texas the only state that forced woman seeking an abortion to first have a sonogram.
 

"What are you trying to fix?" Mr. Shapleigh asked Mr. Patrick. The Democrat also asked Mr. Patrick how many women had asked him to file the proposal.
 

"You have filed this bill to shame women during a tragic time in their lives," he told the author of the bill.
 

Mr. Patrick denied he was trying to harass women and insisted that a sonogram was a necessary procedure to protect women's health. He also noted that most doctors who perform abortions now give their patients sonograms.
 

"If the doctor performing the abortion does not give an ultrasound, that would be very suspect and could put the woman in harm's way," he argued. "This bill is not harassing women. It is protecting women's health."
 

Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, a family physician, supported Mr. Patrick's argument that a sonogram was medically desirable for a woman about to have an abortion.


"There is nothing we do in medicine quite like an abortion. The difference is this is a medical procedure that will take a human life. From a purely medical point of view, then, I think a sonogram should be done before any abortion procedure," he said.


Mr. Seliger, the only Republican not supporting the bill, said he questioned whether senators should be telling doctors how to practice medicine.


Under the legislation, the woman would be required to certify in writing that she was provided with and had the opportunity to review the sonogram – though she would not be compelled to look at the image. The bill specifies there would be no penalties for the physician or woman if she refused to look at the sonogram.


Sponsors of the measure said it extends the informed consent requirements for an abortion in Texas that were passed by the Legislature in 2003 – the Women's Right to Know Act, which requires the doctor to give the woman information about the abortion and that benefits may be available to help with medical care before and after childbirth.