Ultrasounds and Informed Consent

What pro-life advocates argue is required for informed consent, Evan Selinger says, actually constitutes an "inadvertent exploitation of patients’ natural human weaknesses and cognitive tendencies":

In cases where advocates pushed for mandatory ultrasound, proponents insisted that women considering abortion should be subject to robust informed consent policy. From this perspective, ultrasound technology looks like a perfect tool for ensuring women understand the profound ramifications of using surgery to terminate a pregnancy. Unfortunately, discussions of what ultrasound images reveal isn’t limited to objective medical facts....We weren’t just given a frameable copy of an ultrasound image to proudly display. We also received a videotape of moving ultrasound imagery. It was edited to include a superimposed caption on top of the “baby” who cartoonishly states, “Hi mom and dad. See you soon!” Conditioned by this experience, when we returned home and momentarily lost sight of the still image, my wife panicked and exclaimed, “Oh no. We’ve lost our daughter!”

I would generally consider myself to be pro-choice, but in my case it's a slightly squeamish 'pro'. And unlike Selinger, I find it really hard to see the unborn child as a mere fetus. The notion of the unborn child is a real one for me, and the dismissive undertone of the inverted commas around 'baby' suggests a lack of appreciation for the child's human properties. But I also recognise that there may be situations in which it is undesirable for the mother to carry her baby till full-term, and strongly advocate the option for termination of pregnancy where there is a verifiable risk to the mother's health.

When we get to the idea of informed consent, it seems undeniable that the 'informed' part plays to the cognitive tendencies of the parents. Not only undeniable, but almost inevitable. I don't have any problem with using the word 'baby' — since the terminology of informed consent appears to comprise the bulk of the author's argument — and consider the substitution of the word for any other to be de-humanizing in nature. But I also happen to be confident that this information, with the correct terminology, can be provided without appealing to the fragile emotions of parents, and can be conveyed in an objective manner that informs without intent to convince either way.