To further restrict women's choice about abortion, the Nebraska legislature passed a bill requiring physical and mental health exams before performing the medical procedure. Proponents of the measure, which passed 40 to 9, say they want to learn whether women were pressured into the decision as well as to alert them to the risk factors following it. Opponents view it as a smokescreen to restrict women's rights to a legal, medical procedure. It also runs the risk of pathologizing a woman's choice using psychiatric criteria.
In an unusual twist on evidence-based medicine, and setting a new bar, the AP reports the bill requires
"spelling out what doctors must look for. They include any risk factors cited in peer-reviewed journals indexed by two major medical and scientific listing services during the year before a planned abortion. The risks could be "physical, psychological, emotional, demographic, or situational.'"
The Daily Kos asks:
"Can we screen Nebraska lawmakers for mental health risk factors? Or perhaps we could save time if we'd just require men to be screened for "possible mental problems" before having sex?"
One of two laws restricting abortion passed this week in Nebraska, it is expected to be signed into law today by the governor. It is likely to be tested in the courts.
