Oklahoma law not about 'full disclosure'
By Allyson Hagen, Exective Director of NARAL Pro-CHoice Montana Published in the Helena IRI am writing in response to the May 6 commentary by Independent Record Publisher Randy Rickman. As pro-choice advocates, we support giving a woman accessing abortion care the option of an ultrasound, especially if she requests it or her doctor recommends it. In Oklahoma, however, politicians decided to use the ultrasound as a political weapon that interferes in the doctor-patient relationship. We expect the zone of privacy between us and our doctor to be free from government intrusion. This law undercuts women’s decision-making ability by forcing their doctors to give them information they may not want or need. At the same time as Oklahoma passed this mandatory ultrasound law, they also authorized women’s physicians to withhold information about their developing pregnancies. This new law prohibits a woman from suing her physician for intentionally withholding information about her pregnancy that might cause her to consider having an abortion. Thus, a pregnant woman would have no legal recourse if a physician intentionally did not tell her that her fetus suffered from a severe developmental anomaly. Obviously, these laws are not about appropriate medical care or “full disclosure.” Women have the thoughtfulness and the intelligence to make private medical decisions without a state-mandated script or viewing an ultrasound against their will. Women accessing abortion care have thought about their decision. This bill serves no other purpose than to shame and demean women for making a decision that some lawmakers in Oklahoma would like to take away from women altogether. It is not about informing women of their options. The law’s intent is to intimidate women from exercising their right to choose and question their decision-making. We are lucky to be living in Montana, a state that values the constitutional right to privacy enshrined in our state constitution. We believe that women and their doctors are the appropriate people to make private health care decisions.
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