The Kentucky Senate has passed a bill that would require women seeking abortions to undergo a mandatory ultrasound.
The measure passed 33-5 Wednesday with wide Republican support. This is the tenth year the bill has cleared the Senate. All previous efforts have gone on to die in the Democratically-controlled House.
The bill does not provide an exemption for victims of rape. Bill sponsor Whitney Westerfield acknowledges that transvaginal ultrasounds could be traumatic for rape victims.
“I’m not compelling that particular use, and I think that probably would be traumatic and I don’t know, I don’t presume to know what a woman would be thinking in that position, but I think it probably would be," the Hopkinsville Republican said. "They oughta have the option of which ultrasound. That’s why I didn’t write it so it’d be compelled.”
Dissenters say the bill is degrading to women, and similar laws in other states are costing taxpayers money as a result of legal challenges.
Westerfield said he had not had a chance to review those cases.
