2009 House Bill 5411: Prohibit coercing a woman to have an abortion

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Introduced by Rep. David Agema (R) on September 17, 2009, to require an abortion provider to ask the patient if her husband, parents, siblings, relatives, employer, the father or putative father, his parents or any other individual in a position of authority over the patient has threatened, intimidated, or coerced her into seeking an abortion, and require the Department of Community Health to develop the notice advising a woman of her rights in such circumstances. See also House Bill 4525.
- Referred to the House Judiciary Committee on September 17, 2009.

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1) Re: 2009 House Bill 5411 (Prohibit coercing a woman to have an abortion ) by gypsy on November 11, 2009

[quote user="kiessling"]Since abortion has been documented to be a procedure in which coercion is a problem[/quote]

Where is this documentation?

I don't know of any medical procedure that requires a doctor to ask if the patient needing it or requesting it has been "coerced" by someone else to seek it. This is in fact another sleight of hand manuever by the pro-life groups to make a woman's choice to seek an abortion as difficult as possible. This also exposes the right to life's view of women as helpless and vulnerable, not capable of making a decision concerning their own bodies for themselves.

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2) Re: 2009 House Bill 5411 (Prohibit coercing a woman to have an abortion ) by kiessling on November 9, 2009

At first, I agreed with you. However, I re-read the language and changed my mind. The physician is just asking the question. It is up to the woman answering the question to determine whether or not she's been coerced. The bill doesn't define coercion, so it leaves it open to the woman's interpretation. There isn't a medical procedure (other than abortion) that doesn't require a doctor to fully describe the procedure to be done with any and every possible outcome and for the patient to sign off that this explanation was given. Why should abortion not have similar requirements? Since abortion has been documented to be a procedure in which coercion is a problem, why should that not be one of the elements of a pre-procedure process? From what I read of the bill, it doesn't require the procedure to not be performed in such an instance. The woman still has the right to have the abortion if she chooses. It just provides a listing of her rights in such a situation. Why wouldn't we want people to know what their rights are?

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3) Re: 2009 House Bill 5411 (Prohibit coercing a woman to have an abortion ) by prochoice1 on November 9, 2009

This bill is just another way to coerce women out of getting abortions. This bill is too vague and leaves interpretation up to the physician to decide what "coercion" means. Abortion should be a decision of the woman and the woman alone.

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