By Warner M. MontgomeryWarner@TheColumbiaStar.com

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Roe v. Wade case in 1973 that a woman's "right to privacy, including a woman's qualified right to terminate her pregnancy" cannot be denied by any state. Supporters of the Christian Right have pushed a bill through the S.C. House of Representatives that will force a doctor to force a woman considering an abortion to look at an ultrasound image of the fetus. This is clearly an attempt to get around the law of the land, which guarantees a woman control over her own body. It is also an attempt to use the government to force religious beliefs on its citizens.

S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster has warned the lawmakers that the state cannot force a doctor to force a woman to look at such an image and has suggested they rewrite the bill.

If this bill becomes law, I would like for the legislators interested in further denial of personal rights and responsibilities to pass laws that will

+ Force judges to force jurors in death penalty cases to watch actual videos of executions - death by injection, death by electrocution, and death by hanging.

+ Force military recruiters to force recruits to watch actual videos of soldiers dying in Iraq - death by snipers, death by roadside bombs, and death by execution.