The whole idea that most women are pressured into abortions is something anti-choicers came up with to go along with their idea that women are incapable of making decisions regarding their body. I'm not going to deny that there are people who pressure women to abort, but most clinics can pick up on this and they will ask a woman if she's sure, especially if they sense she's being pressured.

And I think it's really unfair to call a situation where a woman's boyfriend or husband talks her into getting an abortion with domestic violence unless their are threats involved or he makes it clear that she has no other option but to abort. In most situations pro-lifers cite as "coercion" is just people in the woman's life who suggest abortion may be her best option, but don't try to force her hand either way.

Can we make a crime to force a woman to carry the pregnancy to term?

Maybe compensate her the $20,000 that surrogates make per pregnancy?

I would want to see the study they site.

I wouldn't support legislation like this. While I don't agree to coercing a woman into any decision is ethical or moral, sometimes if you are being coerced, you won't know or even say so, so the coercer is going to be free anyway. And, it would be too easy to abuse a law like this making any abortion "coerced" and arresting anyone who the woman went to for support and advice.

I would like to see their studies before going too much farther into this except to note that this legislation sounds like rhetoric of the same ilk as that which produced legislation that would essentially force women to remain pregnant, or would force women to view ultrasounds before an abortion, or would force doctors to tell women that abortion is "ending a human life." It takes a lot of nerve to accuse anyone else of coercion with a legislative track record like that.

It comes from the same place, kinda the opposite of the "evil women who want to kill babies" stereotype. Its the "women are so gullible and stupid, they don't know how their bodies work, and can't be trusted to make choices on their own" rhetoric.

Abortion is a medical procedure.

It should be performed only on women who choose it, and their reasons for choosing it remain personal.

I'd like to know what other medical procedures this rule would apply to. I'm sure many cosmetic surgeries are coerced; a lot of partners probably suggest or support the idea of a boob-job or a tummy tuck. Is that domestic violence? does that mean the woman in question doesn't get the procedure she came in for?

I'm all for educating patients and informed consent, but these kinds of measures are tailored specifically to abortion to undermine a woman's choice and their right to choose. people need to treat abortion as the medical procedure it is, and women as capable of making their own medical decisions.

I would say I lot of women feel pressured to get abortions. Like he pressure of having a baby is too much and they feel an abortion is their only option. I think we should report the economy and our child rearing policies for abuse.

Women are pressured in to going full term. Women are pressured into giving their children up for adoption, knowing the children may not ever be adopted and will likely live an institutional life.

I was not pressured into the abortion I had before the pregnancy I kept or after.

That statistic you share in this entry is a manipulative lie.
You are either being manipulated or attempting to manipulate.

Thank goodness we have the choice to have a safe abortion in the country I live in. If not, I would have done it myself.
I am not alone.

"I'm all for educating patients and informed consent, but these kinds of measures are tailored specifically to abortion to undermine a woman's choice and their right to choose."

Good point, Kathryn. I also appreciate the way you put it in perspective by classifying abortion as a medical procedure and then comparing it to other possibly coerced medical procedures.

To a lot of people, this type of legislation sounds inherently *good-willed*. Legislators and bill-writers try very hard to make legislation sound good-willed, and our first impressions are based on a a variety of factors including socialization. We have been socialized to view abortion as something *different*, so legislation that would raise flags for other medical procedures might not seem immediately offensive in regards to abortion. Asking if we would ever consider applying restrictive abortion legislation to other medical procedures is a good way to remind people what this type of legislation is really about.