Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Informed consent trumped by backward crazy Oklahomans

Nothing gets my goat quite as much as pro-lifers. But y'know, I'm happy for them to stand around with their placards and waste money on stupid videos and pamphlets I'll never see or read, as long as they don't impose themselves on me or anyone in fact. Peaceful protest and all. It's when they manage to wangle their way into legislature and practise at clinics or when they start up their own clinics masquerading as medical centres for pregnant women that I really start to get annoyed.

I won't go into the amazingly detailed annoyances I have with their whole outlook on this issue, because it'll just make me even more mad than I am already, but today I found this article which just makes me livid. In short, Oklahoma has brought in legislation that requires women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound.

Under the guise of obtaining informed patient consent, this new law requires doctors to withhold pregnancy termination until an ultrasound is performed. The law states that either an abdominal or vaginal ultrasound, whichever gives the best image of the fetus, must be done. Neither the patient nor the doctor can decide which type of ultrasound to use, and the patient cannot opt out of the ultrasound and still have the procedure. In effect, then, the legislature has mandated that a woman have an instrument placed in her vagina for no medical benefit. The law makes no exception for victims of rape and incest.


Argh. I can't even begin to explain how wrong this whole thing is. Consent is about taking into account specific situations and giving people the choice about violations of ethical norms, empowering people to act with their own best interests in mind, not imposing unnecessary restrictions and backward religious beliefs on people.

Grr.

2 comments:

Nick said...

It makes me sad that you won't rant fully. Where is your commitment to the volatile environment that is the blogosphere?

It's a really terrible thing to happen in Oklohoma, especially considering how widely it was opposed. It's not informed, and it's certainly nothing consensual. The very fact that they are forcing a procedure on patients is evidence of that.

Catherine said...

It makes me sad that you won't rant fully. Where is your commitment to the volatile environment that is the blogosphere?

Well I'd love to Nick but I have this thing called a PhD to write, and I'd be preaching to the converted (hey like the pun??!?!) anyway so yeah.

And I know! Makes me mad! CRUNK SMASH!