The Utah state House voted overwhelmingly in a 53 to 15 vote Friday in favor of a bill that would impose requirements on women having an ultrasound prior to undergoing an abortion procedure. The bill requires that “if an ultrasound is performed on a woman before an abortion is performed, the ultrasound images will be simultaneously displayed in a manner to permit the woman to choose to view the images or not to view the images.” It also requires that if a woman has an ultrasound, she can request a detailed description of the images from the doctor. House Minority Leader David Litvack (D) introduced a failed amendment to the bill in an attempt to delete language that refers to viewing fetal heartbeats at three weeks gestation. He told the Salt Lake Tribune “It is not medically accurate [to see cardiac activity at three weeks.] It’s not possible. It does not exist.” He read correspondence to the state House from a physician testifying that cardiac activity is first seen on ultrasound images at about six weeks gestation. The House Health and Human Services committee voted unanimously in January in favor of the ultrasound bill, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
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