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Last fall, Stephanie Monegro flipped through yellow pages, looking to get an abortion. A high-school dropout, the 17-year-old New Yorker was two months pregnant and already the mother of a three-year-old boy.

Seeing an ad for Expectant Mother Care, she went to the crisis pregnancy center (CPC) and asked about an abortion. Counselor Linda Susan Marzulla said the center did not provide abortions, but asked Monegro if she wanted to have a sonogram taken of her embryonic sac.

"[Marzulla] asked why I would want to kill my baby," Monegro told Christianity Today. "She said I would always regret it. [Then] I saw my first sonogram of the baby, and I burst into tears. I thought: Why would I want to kill something that's living?"

More pregnant women are asking that same question. Crisis pregnancy centers nationwide have discovered that performing sonograms early in pregnancy influences many pregnant women to change their minds about abortion. Ultrasound technology uses sound waves to create a sonogram, an electronic picture of a developing baby.

In 2000, 67 percent of 4 million pregnant women underwent an ultrasound exam, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Researchers say medical professionals typically administer those exams after the 15th week of pregnancy to assess the development and physical well-being of the child. Almost 90 percent of the abortions performed annually in the United States occur in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, before most physicians would take a sonogram.

About 341 CPCs nationwide offer sonograms, according to Heartbeat International, a Columbus, Ohio-based nonprofit. Three years ago, there were fewer than 170 centers offering sonograms. There are 1,800 CPCs and 2,000 abortion clinics across the nation.

Thomas Glessner, president of the National Institute for Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), a Virginia-based nonprofit, believes that 1,000 CPCs could be equipped with ultrasound machines by 2010. Glessner is pushing for Congress to authorize up to $3 million annually for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to purchase sonograms for nonprofits that provide free examinations for pregnant women.

"If women are informed, they can be persuaded to choose life rather than killing the fetus," said Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Florida, who is sponsoring the House version (H.R. 3686). The bill, which has 45 cosponsors, went to the House Subcommittee on Health a year ago, and it remains there. The Senate version (S. 1984) went to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in March 2002. Glessner believes the legislation will help "topple the abortion industry."

Some abortion advocates oppose federal funding for ultrasound machines. The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (now known as naral Pro-Choice America) publishes a booklet titled "Unmasking Fake Clinics." It warns that crisis pregnancy centers are buying ultrasound machines as part of a "new agenda" to deceive pregnant women.

Karen Pearl, executive director of Planned Parenthood Nassau County in New York, told The New York Times last year that centers use sonograms to "manipulate the patient's decision."

Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, a Democrat from Los Angeles, was one of several prochoice African American lawmakers who initially supported the ultrasound-funding bill. But several months ago, she withdrew her support. McDonald and naral declined interview requests.

The current abortion rate, 21.3 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, is at its lowest level since 1974. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of abortions reported by states, the District of Columbia, and New York City fell from 1,429,577 in 1991 to 1,186,000 in 1997. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, has a higher count. The institute estimated 1.3 million abortions annually from 1997 to 2001.

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March 2003, Vol. 47, No. 3