The Supreme Court upheld a Kentucky law that requires abortionists to present and describe ultrasound images alongside the audio of the unborn child's heartbeat to mothers considering abortion. The ACLU had challenged “The Ultrasound Informed Consent Act” and won in lower courts, but the decision was overturned by the Supreme Court Monday.The law was originally blocked by District Court Judge David Hale, but the decision was overturned by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in April. By denying the ACLU's appeal to the Supreme Court, the federal courts confirmed that the law stood within constitutional bounds.
U.S. Circuit Court Judge John K. Bush wrote his reasoning for overturning the District Court decision in his ruling:
“[W]e hold that H.B. 2 provides relevant information. The information conveyed by an ultrasound image, its description, and the audible beating fetal heart gives a patient greater knowledge of the unborn life inside her. This also inherently provides the patient with more knowledge about the effect of an abortion procedure: it shows her what, or whom, she is consenting to terminate. That this information might persuade a woman to change her mind does not render it suspect under the First Amendment.”Judge Bush further stated that informed consent laws do not violate doctors' first amendment rights as long as the information they are required to convey is “truthful, non-misleading, and relevant to an abortion.”
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