Sex and Tampa Bay

 State Senator Dan Webster is proposing legislation that would mandate women seeking an abortion to first view an ultrasound.

I’m not looking to start a debate about abortion. Both sides on the issue have made up their minds and it’ll take a lot more than some blog to change them. I just want to make that clear at the start. This isn’t about abortion, it’s about respecting that women are capable of making their own decisions.

Women aren’t stupid. We understand that pregnancy means we have a fetus growing inside of us. It isn’t as if we don’t know what it looks like. Actually, have you seen what a fetus looks like in the first trimester (the point at which most women choose abortion). This might actually cause the abortion rate to go up! 

Seriously, look at that thing. It looks like something out of a nightmare.

The decision to get an abortion isn’t easy or one entered into lightly. Anyone who things otherwise has never known a woman in that situation. The myth of a woman who uses abortions like some type of easy birth control is just that, a myth.

I trust women with their own bodies. I think that she knows what’s better for her than the government or a stranger.

I’m in the safe, legal, and rare camp of abortion politics. Instead of taking time to pass legislation to demand women view ultrasounds (by the way, who picky up the cost of these ultrasounds?) they should pass legislation that will really prevent abortion. Make it easier to get birth control and teach about birth control usage in schools. Offer more programs that will help women who want to continue their pregnancies be able to afford it. No woman should be forced into an abortion, either by the man in her life or by her temporary financial circumstances. But no woman should be forced into pregnancy by making abortions more expensive and cumbersome to obtain.

If you can’t trust a woman with a choice how can you trust her with a child?