Every woman in Utah’s state Senate walked out after the chamber voted to approve a bill mandating that doctors show an ultrasound before completing an abortion.
Six Democrats and two Republicans were among the group of female senators who walked out during the vote on a law requiring doctors to show women an ultrasound and listen to the heartbeat, if possible, before performing an abortion. Current policy requires that doctors view the ultrasound, but it does not require that the doctor show the woman the screen.
Sen. Deidre Henderson, a Republican, said the protest was not planned but noted that each woman felt the vote would lead to a policy that was too invasive. She tweeted, “The six Republican and Democratic women of the Senate decided to walk out in protest. It wasn’t planned, but a spontaneous decision to put an exclamation mark on our concerns regarding the invasive nature of the bill.”
Henderson, who identifies as pro-life, said she felt the bill crossed the line, saying, “We are overstepping with government mandates of medically unnecessary procedures.”
In a speech on the Senate floor, Henderson explained why she felt the legislation was too invasive.
“Maybe not everybody in this room understands how invasive and problematic it can be to have to have a transvaginal ultrasound,” she said. “They are incredibly invasive. They are incredibly embarrassing. They are certainly not anything that the government should ever, in any way, shape, or form, be mandating.”
Sen. Karen Mayne, a Democrat, agreed. “It makes me sad when women have to stand and expose their life stories,” she said on the Senate floor. “It makes me sad that you don’t believe us that this is invasive to us. Why do we have to explain to you why this is not right? Why?”
While the female senators felt the bill crossed a line with the requirements, some male senators disagreed. Sen. Curtis Bramble, a Republican, suggested that women look away if they do not want to see the image.
“If you are going to take the life of a child, if you are willing to terminate that life through an abortion, it seems appropriate that you get the best information about the development, the stage of development, heartbeat — we are talking about a human being,” he explained.
He added, “Nothing is more powerful than seeing what is happening to your own baby. It’s not the same as watching an informed consent video of the development abstractly.”
The legislation must be sent back to the Utah House for approval because it was amended by the Senate. If the bill is signed into law, it could face a federal challenge concerning whether it complies with Roe v. Wade.
