Michigan to require opportunity to see fetus

updated 7:48 p.m. ET March 20, 2006

LANSING, Mich. - Gov. Jennifer Granholm will sign a bill requiring abortion providers to give pregnant women the option to see ultrasound images of their fetuses, a spokeswoman says.

Granholm generally has opposed anti-abortion legislation, but the bill was amended so it no longer requires pregnant women to see the ultrasound images, spokeswoman Liz Boyd said Sunday.

Until now, Michigan law has required that women seeking abortions be allowed to review diagrams and descriptions showing a developing fetus, but not their own.

Abortion opponents hailed the new law. Right to Life of Michigan said it ensures that pregnant women have fuller access to accurate information before having abortions.

Critics called it a further erosion of women’s rights.

The ultrasound bill is one of the “small, incremental steps ... all designed to put up barriers” to legal abortion, Kary Moss, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, told the Detroit Free Press. However, the ACLU does not plan legal action to block the measure, she said.

The law passed the House two weeks ago on an 84-21 vote and unanimously passed the Senate last week.

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