A bill in the Alabama Legislature would require women seeking abortions to get a sonogram two days ahead of the procedure and hear a detailed description of the embryo or fetus.
The Senate Health Committee has scheduled a Wednesday public hearing on the bill by Republican Sen. Gerald Allen of Tuscaloosa. A federal appeals court in 2014 blocked a similar North Carolina ultrasound law.
The legislation would require abortion providers to display the sonogram, give a verbal description with an "audible heartbeat if present" and give the woman a free sonogram image upon request.
The bill also requires doctors to say how much they are paid for the procedure.
The legislation is supported by anti-abortion lawmakers and opposed by reproductive rights groups who say it interferes in the doctor-patient relationship.