By Susan Guyett
INDIANAPOLIS, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The Indiana state Senate on
Tuesday approved Republican-backed legislation to require women
seeking to end pregnancies through use of the so-called abortion
pill to have an ultrasound examination.
If it becomes law, the proposal would make Indiana the ninth
state to require an ultrasound prior to an abortion, according
to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports
abortion rights.
Senators voted 33 to 16 to approve the measure, advancing it
for consideration by the state House of Representatives, which
like the Senate is controlled by a Republican super-majority.
Republican Governor Mike Pence, a former U.S. congressman
who strongly opposes abortion and championed federal attempts to
cut off funding for abortion provider Planned Parenthood, is
expected to sign the bill into law if it reaches his desk.
The bill, as first introduced by Republican state Senator
Travis Holdman, would have required two ultrasounds before a
woman could obtain a prescription for the abortion pill,
officially known as RU486. It was amended to allow the doctor
providing the drug to decide if a second exam was needed.
"It is a matter of the mother's health," said Holdman. It is
dangerous to administer RU486 in some cases, such as if the
fertilized egg implants outside the womb of the woman.
The bill as passed also would require clinics where RU486
medication is dispensed to meet the same standards as a facility
that performs surgical abortions, a provision opponents said
could force an Indiana clinic to close.
The two-pill abortion medication called RU486 has been
legally available in the United States since 2000. By 2008 it
accounted for about one-fourth of U.S. abortions performed
before nine weeks of gestation, according to the Guttmacher
Institute.
As approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the two
drugs - mifepristone and misoprostol - are dispensed by
prescription directly from a physician. They are not available
in pharmacies. The medication is generally prescribed for ending
pregnancies of less than eight weeks.
Opponents of the bill said it would effectively require
women seeking an RU486 prescription to undergo an invasive
transvaginal ultrasound probe, because that is the only exam
capable of providing the information mandated by the bill during
early stages of pregnancy.
The bill language does not specify the type of ultrasound
required, and Holdman said a normal ultrasound would suffice.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana President Betty Cockrum said
the new licensing requirements could force a Lafayette, Indiana,
clinic that provides non-surgical abortion services to close.
"It's politics, pure and simple," Cockrum said, adding that
requiring the clinic to meet surgical standards would not
improve patient safety.
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