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The Daily Tar Heel

Women Should Have The Opportunity to See\Fetus Before Abortion

The recent debate regarding abortion and the Genocide Awareness Project exhibit has especially interested me because of my own experience of pregnancy. As part of the excellent prenatal care I received through Student Health, I had the opportunity to see my children with ultrasound technology before they were born.

Sonography enables us to see the fetus far more clearly today than we could in 1972. I was about seven weeks pregnant when I had my first ultrasound and learned (to my shock) that I was expecting twins. Even that early, I saw tiny pulsings where their hearts were beating. At 19 weeks, ultrasound showed me each of their fingers, the profiles of their faces and many of their internal organs. If every pregnant woman could see what I saw, I doubt that many would terminate their pregnancies that late.

But not every pregnant woman does see what I saw. Many do not have access to this kind of technology. Can a woman make a fully informed decision regarding her pregnancy without seeing her fetus?

Julie Straight
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of English

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