An advocacy group is suing over an Oklahoma law that prohibits a woman from getting an abortion unless she first has an ultrasound and the doctor describes to her what the fetus looks like.

In the lawsuit filed Thursday in Oklahoma County District Court, the Center for Reproductive Rights says that the requirement intrudes on privacy, endangers health and assaults dignity.

The law, set to go into effect Nov. 1, would make Oklahoma the fourth state in the nation to require that ultrasounds be performed before a woman can have an abortion and that the ultrasounds be made available to the patient for viewing, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based health research organization.

The other states are Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Backers of the lawsuit say Oklahoma is the only state to require that the ultrasound screen be turned toward the woman during the procedure and that the doctor describe what is on the screen, including various dimensions of the fetus.

Elizabeth Nash, public policy associate with the Guttmacher Institute, said the Oklahoma law appears unique in that its intent is that the woman seeking an abortion view the ultrasound images.

Lawmakers overrode Gov. Brad Henry's veto to pass the anti-abortion legislation in April. Henry, a Democrat, said he vetoed the bill because it didn't exempt victims of rape or incest from the ultrasound requirement.

Republican state Sen. Todd Lamb, said supporters of the law hope that it will curtail abortions in the state.

"I introduced the bill because I wanted to encourage life in society. In Oklahoma, society is on the side of life," Lamb said. Continued...