The Hill News

Just when you thought the 2012 election cycle would be all about economic and domestic policies, the third rail of social politics â€" abortion â€" rears its head.

The latest chapter in our nation’s struggles over what to do about the topic unfolds out of Texas. The Lone Star State’s General Assembly has approved separate bills in both the House and Senate forcing women seeking abortions to also get a sonogram 24 hours prior to the procedure.

 Women’s-rights groups howled. Democratic lawmakers in the Texas Legislature cried foul.

But what were the complaints? Republicans pushing the bill said it only seems fair and right to ask a woman who was about to make one of the most difficult decisions of her life to a) think about it an extra day; and b) to at least understand that the fetus she was about to abort was in fact a living entity with a heartbeat. Is that so wrong?

Read more...