The Right’s Latest Anti-Abortion Gimmick: Performing Ultrasounds On Capitol Hill

Radical anti-abortion groups including the Christian Defense Fund have come up with another over-the-top spectacle to try to shame pregnant women and make anti-choice legislators feel self-righteous. This time they’ve chosen Capitol Hill as the venue for the stunt, called “Voices from the Womb,” where the public and all 535 representatives are invited to the Capitol Visitors Center Auditorium to witness the groups performing live ultrasounds on pregnant women.


The Christian Post reports on the event, which they describe as “Pre-Born to ‘Speak’ Through Live Ultrasounds on Capitol Hill”:

Through the use of “real time” ultrasounds performed on women in the first through third trimesters of pregnancy, the public and members of the Congress will be able to hear for themselves what the beginning of life sounds like, straight from the womb.

Beginning at the Congressional Auditorium in Washington, D.C., “Voices From the Womb” will launch its national campaign in October “to let the children of America ‘speak’ for themselves about ending abortion,” according to a statement.

The Oct. 13 event, which is sponsored by The Stanton Project, the Christian Defense Coalition and the National Pro-life Center, is open to all 535 members of Congress and the public to witness history in the making.

The “show” on Capitol Hill is just the first step for the groups, which plan to take “Voices from the Womb” on the road with a “tour performing ultrasounds throughout nation, in schools, churches, state capitals, parks and legislative hearings.” Christian Post chirps that thanks to technological advances, “ultrasound machines are now much more compact and mobile than ones made previously” so the organization can “take its message to the streets, giving the unborn a unique opportunity to ‘speak’ for themselves.”

ThinkProgress contacted the Capitol Visitors Center to find out more information about the event. According to Director of Communications Tom Fontana, outside groups cannot use the Capitol Auditorium unless they’ve secured the sponsorship of at least one member of Congress. This suggests that “Voices From the Womb” is being hosted and attended by at least one elected official, although Fontana couldn’t comment on which members might be sponsoring the event, or even confirm it was happening.

That anti-abortion groups and lawmakers would be comfortable making a spectacle out of pregnant women in front of crowds belies their claim to care about the dignity of life.