The US Supreme Court has upheld a Kentucky State law which requires doctors to show mothers their ultrasound image and let them hear their baby’s heartbeat before an abortion procedure. Fiorella Nash, bioethics consultant said: "If women have the opportunity to see and hear their baby, they could reject abortion."

The Kentucky law, requiring doctors to present an ultrasound image and foetal heartbeat audio to mothers considering abortion, was passed in 2017. American Civil Liberties Union, a pro-abortion campaign group, recently attempted to bring forward an appeal against the law, on behalf of Kentucky’s lone abortion clinic. The court declined the appeal on Monday, thus allowing the current law to stand.

Mrs Nash said: "For women to be truly free, we must be intellectually free, and that means challenging and breaking loose from decades of indoctrinating propaganda. If abortion promoters regard women as too infantile to be given the uncensored truth, it is difficult to see on what basis they can speak of giving women an informed choice—and a choice that is not informed is no choice at all."

"Ensure women are informed about the current stage of their pregnancy"

The Kentucky ultrasound law appears to have inspired other international lawmakers in providing women with information regarding their pregnancy.

Earlier this month, lawmakers in Slovakia debated a proposed law which would require mothers seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound and listen to their baby’s heartbeat. The bill was submitted by three members of the conservative Slovak National Party, who wrote that it is intended "to ensure that women are informed about the current stage of their pregnancy before having an abortion."

Mrs Nash added: "Out and out denial of the humanity of the unborn continues despite the now routine use of ultrasound, including clear 4D ultrasound images and the growing body of evidence which demonstrates the ability of the unborn child to detect and respond to touch, sound, light and pain.

"Denial has always been a necessary defence mechanism for abortion advocates, but rather than have the courage to face scientific realities head-on, many supporters of abortion hide behind ever more elaborate and misleading language to conceal the truth of what abortion involves."