In what is being seen as the latest attempt to restrict a woman’s right to an abortion, Texas has passed a law which requires all doctors in the state to warn women that an abortion may lead to breast cancer.
The law is one of many being introduced across America as the battle over abortion rights intensifies. It compels women applying for an abortion to go through a 24-hour ”reflection” period. During this time, doctors will be required to show women pictures of foetuses, tell them about adoption procedures and warn them that an abortion could lead to breast cancer.
Cancer organisations have denied the link between abortion and breast cancer. Earlier this year the National Cancer Institute, the country’s official government cancer agency, concluded after a consultation with 100 experts that an abortion ”does not increase a woman’s subsequent risk of developing breast cancer”. The American Cancer Society also backed this position.
The bill was introduced by Texas Republican congressman Frank Corte of San Antonio, who described it as ”the woman’s right to know act”.
He said: ”This is an issue that many folks see as something we need to do. We think these are standards that should be set.”
It is already difficult for women to have an abortion in Texas, where the service is available in 15 of the state’s 254 counties.
Twenty-eight other states have introduced ”counselling requirements” but only two — Mississippi and Minnesota — include the requirement of the warning of breast cancer.
The abortion rights group Naral Pro-Choice America described the measure as another attempt to whittle away at a woman’s right to choose. Other organisations accused Texan lawmakers of cynicism in passing the measure when they knew the scientific information did not back their claims.
The Bush administration is opposed to abortion but has said that it would honour existing supreme court rulings allowing choice.
The change in the Texas law has come as a result of Republican control of the state’s congress and the governorship for the first time in 130 years.
Attempts by Democrats to exclude women who were victims of rape or incest from being made to look at colour photos of foetuses were unsuccessful.
The bill also requires abortions taking place after 16 weeks of pregnancy to be performed in special centres. Supporters of the bill say that this is for safety reasons while opponents say it will quadruple the cost of such abortions.
At the heart of abortion legislation in the US is the 1973 supreme court decision in Roe v Wade. Abortion rights groups fear that President Bush’s next appointment to the supreme court will reverse that decision and severely restrict the rights of American women to abortions. Planned Parenthood, which supports abortion rights, claims that current attempts to weaken abortion rights could lead to backstreet operations.
The issue is likely to feature in next year’s presidential campaign with most Democrat candidates backing abortion rights.
In the last election, pro-abortion groups called on voters to back Al Gore against President Bush. – Guardian Unlimited Â