The House State Affairs Committee will hear testimony Wednesday on its version of a bill that mandates sonograms be done before an abortion and the images and sounds made available to women. Unlike the bill that already has passed the Senate, it doesn't provide any exceptions for women who are getting an abortion due to rape, incest or because of severe and irreversible fetal abnormalities.
The House bill also opens the tort door against doctors who fail to adhere to the sonogram bill, saying the patient, her relatives and even a district attorney can sue doctors -- for real and punitive damages -- who fail to follow the law. There are also civil fines of up to $10,000 an occurance. Failure could also cost a medical license.
Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, said the House bill will be a tougher, better bill than the Senate version.
That might present a little problem for Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston. As author of the Senate bill, he promised colleagues that he would fight to maintain the exceptions placed into the bill and wouldn't accept a House version either, as he said, watered down or on steroids.
Under the bill, women could decline to see a sonogram image, but she must be given a verbal description the developing fetus and be made to hear a heartbeat, if it is detectable.
Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/02/tougher-sonogram-bill-up-in-ho.html
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