Gov. Jennifer Granholm will sign into law a bill requiring Michigan abortion providers to give a pregnant woman the option of viewing ultrasound images of her fetus before performing an abortion, according to her spokeswoman.
It would mark the first time Granholm has agreed with the Legislature’s anti-abortion majority on a measure to regulate the procedure. The bill, which moved quietly through the Legislature, is an expansion of the state’s so-called informed consent law.
Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said Sunday that the governor would sign the bill, which an abortion-rights advocate said is an effort to create a barrier to abortion. Boyd said the legislation was developed in cooperation with abortion-rights organizations and won’t change current practice.
Under current law, a woman seeking an abortion must be offered the opportunity to review diagrams and descriptions showing a developing fetus, but not her own.
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The law would require physicians who take ultrasound images before performing an abortion to give his or her patient the opportunity to view an active ultrasound of the fetus, and to offer the patient a still image taken from the ultrasound.
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