I find it exceedingly hard to believe that any woman who has scheduled an abortion would not understand the fact that what she is aborting is in fact a fetus, so much so that she would need to see the ultrasound image and hear a description of the fetus, then sit and ponder that for an hour before anything is actually done. If this tactic proves unsuccessful, perhaps the next step for the anti-choice fanatics would be to let her know the procedure will be performed without anesthesia and that after the procedure is done, she'll be forced her to name and bury the aborted fetus, and the newspaper will be notified so an obit can be published. At some point I am hopeful that even if a minority in the state agree that abortion is a medical procedure, they will not be forced by the majority into having the government intrude so profoundly into a personal decision. I have the utmost respect for any physicians who are able to stand up to the mobs and continue to practice in such a hostile environment.

Actually, most abortions are performed without anesthesia - or at least, they used to be.

I only had a local (cervical injection) that hadn't taken effect by the time the doctor performed my abortion. Now older, wiser and ornier, if a doctor were to fail to wait for the local to take effect now, I'd kick him into the next county. Still, I guess it didn't hurt all that badly. Or maybe it did. I had a colposcopy and punch biopsy, plus an endometrial biopsy not all that long ago, both without even local anaesthesis. I thought that getting my ears pierced with one of those piercing guns hurt worse than the punch biopsy, and the endometrial biopsy just made me swear for a few minutes. My last sprained ankle (grade 2+) hurt waaay more than the abortion, the colposcopy, the biopsies, a broken toe and half a dozen mammograms combined.