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Texas abortion law challenged

AUSTIN, Texas, June 14 (UPI) -- A pro-choice group has asked a federal court to strike down a Texas law requiring doctors to describe what is visible on a sonogram to women seeking abortions.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Austin, the Center for Reproductive Rights said the law forces doctors to "disregard the wishes of the patients who do not want to receive this information," the Austin American-Statesman reported.

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"The Act profoundly intrudes on the practice of medicine, forces physicians to deliver ideological speech to patients, and treats women as less than fully competent adults," the group said in its complaint.

The law, signed by Gov. Rick Perry in May, requires sonograms to be performed whenever a woman wants to have an abortion. While the women do not have to look at the sonogram, they must hear the doctor's description.

There is a 24-hour waiting period after the sonogram, shortened to 2 hours for women who live more than 100 miles from the abortion clinic.

Sen. Dan Patrick, a Houston Republican who wrote the law, said its aim is to give women as much information as possible.

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