Pre-abortion ultrasound law struck down

OKLAHOMA CITY, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- An Oklahoma judge struck down the state's abortion law requiring ultrasounds, ruling it violated a requirement that legislation deal with a single subject.

Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki Robertson ruled the 2008 abortion law was a compilation of five separate bills, but did not address other legal complaints on the law Tuesday, The Oklahoman reported Wednesday.

The most controversial aspect of the law was a requirement that a doctor or medical technician performing an abortion give a pregnant woman an ultrasound before the procedure and display the images where the woman could see them, the Oklahoma City newspaper said. The law also required that the woman receive descriptions of the images, including whether the fetus's heart were beating.

The bill's author, Republican state Sen. Todd Lamb said he would "likely make a formal request" that the attorney general appeal the ruling.

"I don't think it violates the single-subject rule," Lamb said. "There are multiple provisions and sections of this legislation and the argument could be made that it's pro-life all the way through."

State Republican Rep. Pam Peterson, the law's House sponsor, said she thought the judge "ruled on a technicality and not on the true substance of the bill."

The Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health think tank, said 13 states regulate the provision of ultrasounds by abortion providers, The Washington Post reported. Anti-abortion groups have pushed the provisions as a means deterring women from having the procedures.

The Oklahoma law, which was never enforced, was the first to mandate the ultrasounds and descriptions, even if the woman objects, the Post said.