"Right to choose" only if you're ignorant...

Evidently a woman's "right to choose" doesn't entitle her to all the information leading to a truly informed choice;

Fargo, ND (LifeNews.com) -- A Fargo, North Dakota abortion business has filed a lawsuit to stop women from having the ability to see an ultrasound of their unborn children before the have an abortion. Gov. John Hoeven signed the measure into law in May after the state House easily approved the ultrasound measure.

The House backed House Bill 1371, on a strongly bipartisan 77-9 vote in February and the Senate signed off on the bill in April. The measure is designed to help women learn the humanity of their unborn child and to consider abortion alternatives.

While most abortion businesses do an ultrasound before an abortion is done on a woman and her unborn child, that doesn't mean the mother will have a chance to see it. Rep. Bette Grande, a Republican sponsoring House Bill 1371, hopes the bill changes that.

However, the Red River Women's Clinic, the only abortion business in the state, filed a lawsuit to stop the law from taking effect on August 1.

With help from the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, a pro-abortion legal group, the abortion center is asking for a temporary injunction against the ultrasound measure.

The law requires that a woman seeking an abortion be offered the opportunity to see an ultrasound of her unborn child and hear the fetal heartbeat, which can begin as early as eighteen days after fertilization.

Red River claims the law is confusing and would limit a woman's ability to get an abortion. It also claims allowing a woman to hear the heartbeat of her baby is inconsistent with best medical practices and claims the cost of the equipment is too burdensome.

Mary Spaulding Balch, an attorney with the National Right to Life Committee, talked with LifeNews.com about the lawsuit.

“It’s unclear why a clinic, which claims to care about women, would be afraid to offer their patients all the vital and relevant information before performing a life-changing and intrusive medical procedure," she said.

“Diagnostic ultrasounds and listening to the fetal heartbeat provides mothers accurate information about the development of their unborn child. Why is the abortion industry afraid of these tools?” she asked.

Balch says the new North Dakota law joins six other states with similar provisions.

“We want women to be informed, and receive all possible information available - much of which has historically been omitted by those in the abortion industry,” Balch said. “It is shameful in our society that women cannot rely on abortionists to voluntarily provide them with information that would help them make the best decision for themselves and their unborn children."

North Dakota Right to Life, the North Dakota affiliate of Concerned Women for America and the North Dakota Catholic Conference supported the bill along with the North Dakota Family Alliance.

Pro-life advocates say the bills are important because the Red River Women’s Clinic is expected to set a record for the number of abortions it is doing annually.

The abortion center has been doing abortions for just over ten years and did a record 1,358 abortions in 2003 and another 1,238 abortions last year.

Yep, all choices are equal. Some are just more equal than others. Noted.