When Georgia’s restrictive abortion law took effect nearly a year ago, a heavy responsibility was placed upon the medical staff tasked with determining how far along someone was in their pregnancy.
Ultrasound technicians are often among the first stops for someone who is pregnant, whether they are seeking an abortion at one of the clinics across Georgia or not. State law requires providers to check for fetal cardiac activity — and ensure there is none — before an abortion can be administered.
Georgia law bans most abortions once a medical professional can detect fetal cardiac activity, which is typically about six weeks into a pregnancy and before many know they are pregnant.
A year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which for nearly 50 years guaranteed the right to an abortion nationwide and paved the way for Georgia’s law to take effect, the topic remains extremely polarizing. Depending upon each individual’s situation, seeing the flicker of cardiac activity on the ultrasound machine can be a joyful or sorrowful experience.
For some, it marks the beginning of what they hope will be a viable pregnancy. For others, it marks the end of their plans to terminate their pregnancy in Georgia.
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke with metro Atlanta ultrasound technicians on both sides of the abortion debate — one who has worked at an abortion clinic and one who has worked for pregnancy centers, which have a mission of dissuading women from terminating their pregnancies.
The AJC is not using the full names of the sonographers to protect them and their families and places of work from harm.
‘How could I turn that baby away?’
Suki has been an ultrasound technician since 2004, starting her career working in hospitals and for private practices. She said she began working for abortion clinics about 12 years ago.
Since Georgia law took effect: “This past year for me, being an ultrasound tech, it has been heavy. This past year every person who comes into my room has held their breath until I say: ‘Yes, I don’t see cardiac activity. You can continue.’ ”
Varied reactions from patients where there is no cardiac activity: “Sometimes they cry tears of joy, sometimes they cry because it’s overwhelming. Some want to talk or need a hug. But most are grateful to hear those words from me. The ones that are too far (along in pregnancy), they just lay there. You can see that mechanism of their brain trying to compute, ‘What do I do now?’ ”
Helping patients where cardiac activity is detected: “I give them information and resources to try to get them into a different state. Some people will schedule an appointment at our clinic and another clinic because it’s hard to get appointments in the other states. It’s disheartening, horrible, disgusting and it’s just unfair. ... It’s put me into a situation where it’s so heavy on me because I don’t like to see the hurt and the hopelessness and the helplessness and the energy in that room of not being able to get done what they want to get done with their bodies.”
A case that’s lingered: “There was one particular girl (before Georgia’s law took effect). She had just turned 13. It was a sexual assault (victim). She was 10 weeks. ... How could I turn that baby away? I walked out of that room and cried. I cried because we were going to be able to help her, and I cried because I knew Roe was going to be overturned and it would become much more difficult to provide abortion care to others like her.”
A draft of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion was leaked in May, before the U.S. Supreme Court finalized it’s ruling the next month. Georgia law allows later abortions in cases of rape or incest if the victim has filed a police report. Abortions are also allowed if the life of the woman is in danger or in instances of “medical futility,” when a fetus would not be able to survive.
‘I call it a ministry’
A woman who has worked as a sonographer since 2012 left her hospital job to join anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers, where abortion is not an option for those seeking to confirm that they are pregnant and get care.
Being called to serve: “I’ve been in ministry — because I call it a ministry — so I’ve been in the ministry since I started at the hospital in 2012 but really got into the ministry in 2013.”
Preferring to work in pregnancy centers instead of the hospital: “Leaving the hospital was so important because here I’m able to still love on them and help them through whatever decision they make — not make it for them, but help them through whatever decision they make. ... We can help her process her situation, but we love them, we give them truth, and that’s what I’m here for.”
Always an emotional experience: It depends on the lady. Sometimes there’s somebody who’s come in and they’re excited, and you’re happy for them. Some come in and they’re sad. And some of them that just come in and they’re just confused or they’ve been raped — I see it all. ... It is definitely emotional for them to see the heartbeat. Some, they’re excited, they say: ‘It’s really a heartbeat. I just thought it was tissue.’ You hear that a lot. And I say, ‘There’s life at conception.’ You know what I mean? I just share truth.”
A case that’s lingered: “There was a young lady who came in and she was in college and she had been raped. She had told her father, who wasn’t happy (in general). But he wasn’t happy that she was pregnant. So everything’s just, ‘get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it.’ Her mother was with her. We did the ultrasound and saw the heartbeat. I told her the baby was alive and the pregnancy was viable. Her mother got upset and walked out. When she came back in, her daughter said she didn’t know if she can get the abortion. Her mother said, ‘You get to make that choice because when I was in college I was also raped.’ It was (the daughter). So (the daughter) had the baby. ... It turned out to be a testimony and a blessing. As tragic as it was, they didn’t make it a tragic story. And they didn’t leave it as a tragic story.”
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