Not content to simply refer to women as livestock, Illinois legislators are considering a bill that would make all women seeking abortions get mandatory ultrasounds before going through with the procedure.

The backers of the proposal claim that mandating ultrasounds would stop a majority of abortions in the state.  The Chicago Tribune reports:

“We have studies and statistics that show something north of 80 percent of women (seeking abortions) who view ultrasounds of their babies decide against abortion, which is why we’ve gone this way,” said Catholic Conference spokesman Zach Wichmann during a news conference at the Capitol last week.

The “80 percent of women who see an ultrasound chose life” statistic is another one of the many anti-abortion “facts” that can be tracked to an anti-choice institution.  In this case, all quotes go back to Bradley Mattes of Life Issues Institute, who provides no actual studies to back up his claim.  in fact, one study from British Columbia states that not one woman shown an ultrasound at abortion clinics actually chose not to abort.

Still, Illinois Democrats aren’t just letting the issue drop.  Instead, they’ve poison-pilled the bill, and made a political point about abortion at the same time.

Points for creativity, however, to Democrats opposed to the bill, which is likely to come up for a floor vote by Friday. In the Human Services Committee last week, opponents inserted an amendment that broadens the Ultrasound Opportunity Act to cover virtually every office-based medical procedure including muscle, eye and joint-related diagnosis and treatment.

This requirement is designed to highlight their view that abortion, which is legal, should be treated by law just like any other legal medical procedure and not be subject to an additional and paternalistic interposition of state legislators between patients and their doctors. And, of course, the requirement is so preposterously burdensome that if the amendment passes the full House, the bill itself would have to fail.

So much for mandatory ultrasounds in Illinois.