North Dakota Senate Approves Abortion Signs
Signs Tell Women They Cannot Be Forced to Have Abortions
Feb 19, 2009
While the North Dakota House of Representatives approved a bill to effectively ban abortion, the state's Senate overwhelmingly passed a measure to post signs in abortion health centers telling women they can not be forced to have an abortion.
There is only one health center in North Dakota that provides abortion services. Located in Fargo, Senate Bill 2265 would force them to display a sign reading, "Notice: No one can force you to have an abortion. It is against the law for a spouse, a boyfriend, a parent, a friend, a medical care provider, or any other person to in any way force you to have an abortion."
Janne Myrdal, the State Director for Concerned Women For America of North Dakota, supported the bill by saying, "We believe that a women and/or minors that seek abortion services sometimes may not be there of their own will, and, therefore, SB2265 is a necessity." Myrdal claims to have seen incidents when boyfriends or parents forced young women into the medical procedure against their will.
But while the pro-life movement claims the measure is to protect women from being coerced into having an abortion, the same pro-life movement has used methods of coercion to prevent women from having abortions. One North Dakota law requires women seeking abortion services to submit to a 24-hour delay as well as mandatory counseling. The counseling is biased towards the pro-life movement and is aimed at convincing women to change their minds. The very language is slanted towards the pro-life movement - the state mandated materials use the words "unborn child" rather than "fetus" and include information about how the "father" is liable for child support.
The pro-life movement also attempts to keep women from learning about abortion services in North Dakota. One law prevents certain state employees and organizations from receiving state funding for referring women to abortion services. In the past, the state government has tried to force doctors to read scripts to pregnant patients - ensuring they will pass on a pro-life message rather than using their best medical judgement for the individual patient.
While the sign bill may be an attempt to prevent women from being coerced into having abortions, it seems the pro-life movement is using the same tactics of coercion to prevent women from seeking abortion services or even knowing about their availability. The bill will now go to the House while the Senate will soon receive the House's latest attempt at an abortion ban.
