2010-04-27 18:58![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
digitaldiscipline
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Want to know why you SHOULD be disgusted with the legislature of Oklahoma?
1. They just passed a law making it legal for doctors to lie to patients. This law is intended to "protect handicapped fetuses" however it has the intention to prevent parents from making informed decisions about continuing, or not, a pregnancy given all the information about their fetus. In other words a doctor might know your fetus has Downs or other genetic abnormalities but can knowingly keep that information from you. And be protected by Oklahoma law. So if a doctor decided to tell a woman that birth control causes STDs, would that be protected by law too? The precedent is there. A patient's only recourse would be to petition the AMA to remove such a doctor's license.
2. If you decide to have an abortion for any reason you will be subjected to a vaginal ultrasound (shame on the newspapers for using the word "invasive" and avoiding the word "vaginal"). Then you will be given a "mental health evaluation" to establish that you weren't "coerced into getting an abortion." This is required even for victims of rape and incest. I can think of one other word that describes sticking something in a vagina against a person's will or with the threat of unpleasant/threatening repercussions.
Want to know why you SHOULD be disgusted with the legislature of Oklahoma?
1. They just passed a law making it legal for doctors to lie to patients. This law is intended to "protect handicapped fetuses" however it has the intention to prevent parents from making informed decisions about continuing, or not, a pregnancy given all the information about their fetus. In other words a doctor might know your fetus has Downs or other genetic abnormalities but can knowingly keep that information from you. And be protected by Oklahoma law. So if a doctor decided to tell a woman that birth control causes STDs, would that be protected by law too? The precedent is there. A patient's only recourse would be to petition the AMA to remove such a doctor's license.
2. If you decide to have an abortion for any reason you will be subjected to a vaginal ultrasound (shame on the newspapers for using the word "invasive" and avoiding the word "vaginal"). Then you will be given a "mental health evaluation" to establish that you weren't "coerced into getting an abortion." This is required even for victims of rape and incest. I can think of one other word that describes sticking something in a vagina against a person's will or with the threat of unpleasant/threatening repercussions.
