“By forcing the victims of such horrific acts to undergo an ultrasound and listen to a detailed description of the procedure after they have faced the unspeakable trauma of rape or incest, the state victimizes the victim for a second time,” Henry said at the time. “It would be unconscionable to subject rape and incest victims to such treatment.”
Enforcement of the law has been blocked by a temporary injunction since May 2010. That injunction came after the Center for Reproductive Rights, a New York-based abortion rights group, challenged the law in Oklahoma County District Court on behalf of Nova Health Systems, which operates Reproductive Services of Tulsa.
Texas enacted a similar law last year. Under that law, abortion providers must perform an ultrasound, show and describe the image to their patients and play the sound of the fetal heartbeat. Women may decline to hear the heartbeat or view the images but must listen to a description of the exam. A federal judge last month allowed Texas to begin enforcing the statute.
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