Posted on 05/04/2006 7:24:46 PM PDT by freepatriot32
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The California Assembly has voted to restrict the use of ultrasound machines for personal use, approving a bill that would allow them to be sold only to licensed professionals.
Democratic Assemblyman Ted Lieu introduced the bill after "Mission: Impossible III" star Tom Cruise bought an ultrasound machine to see images of his unborn child. The actor's fiancee, Katie Holmes, gave birth to the couple's daughter, Suri, last month in Los Angeles.
Doctors and technologists typically receive years of training to perform ultrasound exams, which help obstetricians check a baby's health.
Cruise was criticized by doctors who said improperly using the devices can harm a fetus.
Lieu said his bill was intended to prohibit copycats from using the devices at home. An ultrasound machine listed on the online auction site eBay was selling for $5,500 Wednesday.
"What we don't want is someone who unintentionally damages the fetus," Lieu said Thursday on the Assembly floor.
The chamber voted 55-7 to pass the bill and send it to the Senate.
The bill prohibits a manufacturer or person from selling, leasing or distributing an ultrasound machine to any person other than a licensed practitioner.
Some Republican lawmakers questioned whether the bill would prohibit the use of ultrasound devices by private companies that provide keepsake photos for parents-to-be.
Lieu said it would not, as long as the person operating the machine was licensed under a certain section of the state's Business and Professions Code.
Laboratory tests have shown that certain diagnostic levels can affect human tissue, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The agency has determined that keepsake fetal videos and personal snapshots are an unapproved use of a medical device.
Translation give the state 10's of thousands of dollars in lisencing fees and we will let you use the machine. Cause lord knows it takes years of training and 10's of thousands of dollars to figure out how to put a paddle over a stomach and hit the on button
ping
I see.
I imagine if you took the ultrasound and beat the fetus with it, it could damage the fetus....
They certainly do not want crisis pregnance centers to have ultrasound machines. Don't let facts get in the way of feelings about "just some tissue".
Or use it to show girls going into the abortion clinic what they are killing.
I thought this mutt was pro-choice.
I have seen a baby cringe when the licensed ultrasound tech scanned over its head, and the licensed ultrasound tech said nope, a fetus can't feel pain.
I bet Tom Cruise thinks a baby can feel pain.
This opens a can of worms- doctors and hospital administrators always say there is no risk, but now they admit that there is if the operator makes a mistake (license or no).
I see lawyers circling...
"What we don't want is someone who unintentionally damages the fetus,"
Like Abortion?
Yes unless they hire a tech that is licensed by the state they wont be allowed to use them under this bill
The real issue here is that ultrasounds are showing women that their three month old fetuses are not just a clump of cells. Therefore, the liberals are trying to bring ultrasounds under strict regulation. After this, they will ban using them before 6 months or so.
Calipornia always has to pass a law against anything "regressive." This has been true even when the RINOs dominated politics there.
The real reason for this is the left's desperation to hide the true nature of a human fetus.
"Will this impact pro-life clinics who may use ultrasound introduce the
mother to the baby?"
You just beat my post.
IMHO, "the rest of the story" is that I suspect that the bill is
really aimed at shutting down ultrasound being used to help women
reach informed decisions about whether they wish to proceed with an
abortion or not.
Although it's for the directors of the pregnancy centers, here's a
link to "Focus On The Family"'s website for the ultrasound operation.
http://www.heartlink.org/oupdirectors.cfm
Now I could be all wet...maybe these centers get licensed personnel to
do the ultrasound...so I might have to eat crow.
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