Not satisfied with current woman-hating nominees Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson, the VA GOP has introduced their new nominee for attorney general: Mark Obenshain.
From ThinkProgress:
If a woman in Virginia has a miscarriage without a doctor present, they must report it within 24 hours to the police or risk going to jail for a full year. At least, that’s what would have happened if a bill introduced by Virginia state Sen. Mark Obenshain (R) had become law.
-snip-
Under Obenshain’s bill, which was introduced in 2009,
When a fetal death occurs without medical attendance upon the mother at or after the delivery or abortion, the mother or someone acting on her behalf shall, within 24 hours, report the fetal death, location of the remains, and identity of the mother to the local or state police or sheriff’s department of the city or county where the fetal death occurred. No one shall remove, destroy, or otherwise dispose of any remains without the express authorization of law-enforcement officials or the medical examiner. Any person violating the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Under Virginia law, a Class 1 misdemeanor carries a maximum sentence of “confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500,” so Obenshain’s bill could lead to a woman who decides to take a day to grieve the loss of a pregnancy she’d hoped to carry to term spending a year of her life in jail for that decision.
Even without Obenshain’s bill, Virginia law already treats many miscarriages as potential crimes. Under existing Virginia law, “[w]hen a fetal death occurs without medical attendance upon the mother at or after the delivery or abortion or when inquiry or investigation by a medical examiner is required, the medical examiner shall investigate the cause of fetal death and shall complete and sign the medical certification portion of the fetal death report within twenty-four hours after being notified of a fetal death.” Obsenshain, however, would treat many women as if they were criminal suspects at the moment they are confronted with a deep personal tragedy — and imprison them if they would rather deal with that tragedy privately with their family than share the vulnerable moment after a miscarriage with law enforcement.
Emphasis mine. Personal outrage below the fold.
I cannot BELIEVE this shit! Doesn't this fool have a FAMILY that includes women? He clearly doesn't understand anything about miscarriages, from either a medical or personal standpoint. This is why idiot politicians should never be allowed to interfere in personal MEDICAL events.
It has been well-documented that anywhere from 10-25% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage.
From the Mayo Clinic:
Miscarriage is the spontaneous loss of a pregnancy before the 20th week. About 15 to 20 percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriage. But the actual number is probably much higher because many miscarriages occur so early in pregnancy that a woman doesn't even know she's pregnant. Most miscarriages occur because the fetus isn't developing normally.
And:
Source
The majority of miscarriages occur in the first trimester.
Over 80% of miscarriages occur before 12 weeks, so the chances look good for a healthy baby once you've finished the first trimester. Again, many individual factors are in play, but if 15-20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage and 80% of miscarriages occur in the first trimester...
I suffered a miscarriage. And, yes, "suffered" is the word most commonly used with the miscarriage of a wanted pregnancy. It is a horribly devastating and VERY personal experience. I won't go into the trials and tribulations of secondary infertility, but when I saw the double pink lines on seven (yes, seven) pregnancy tests, I was overjoyed. I absolutely KNEW the baby was a girl, and named my little blob of cells "Mireille." Her due date was 02/03/04, which I thought was auspicious.
But at 5 weeks, 5 days, I started to bleed. It wasn't much, at first. Unfortunately, my OB (almost 70) was in Tel Aviv visiting his uncle (in his 90's). I had to see another doctor. Blood tests showed that my progesterone was low, and I was given a prescription for progesterone. The bleeding slowed. At 6 weeks and a few days, I had an ultrasound. Mireille's heartbeat was 69. The ultrasound tech and my OB were grave. 69 was not good. It should have been close to 100.
The trickle of blood became a flood. I spent hours in the bathroom, crying and praying. I found a tiny, tiny empty sac with a hole in it. I went back to my doctor, with the sac tenderly wrapped in tissue, and he did another ultrasound. He confirmed that Mireille was gone. He told me that he wanted to do a D&C to remove any remaining tissue. I consented.
I checked into Rose Medical Center on what would have been my 7th week, 2nd day of pregnancy. I had to fill out a "Disposition of Fetal Remains" form, even though there WERE no remains, really. It was designed more for stillbirths. The nurse apologized because it really was a very upsetting form.
I was put on a gurney and sedated. My beloved OB was accompanied by a team of rather young people, one of whom, oddly, wrote on my sheet-covered chest with a pen. I said, "Did you just write 'This End Up'?" He turned pink, and I fell asleep to the sound of my OB laughing.
When it was over, I threw up. My husband took me home to mourn.
When I read the ThinkProgress article, I was enraged. What is WRONG with these crazed ideologues? How DARE they yap about "limited government" and then try to insert everything from transvaginal probes to criminal charges into our PRIVATE lives?
The VA GOP has pushed misogyny to an incredible level. The nomination of this new candidate is absolutely appalling. Didn't they learn ANYTHING from the pushback against "Vaginal Probe" McDonnell? I guess not. I hope that Virginia voters send a clear message that this kind of government intrusion is absolutely NOT acceptable. I'm sure this asshole Obenshain assumes that EVERY miscarriage is an abortion attempt by some evil pro-choice woman. Most assuredly, they are not. A miscarriage of a wanted pregnancy is a TRAGEDY.
12:15 PM PT: UPDATE, directly quoted from ThinkProgress:
Jared Walczak, a Deputy Campaign Manager with Obenshain for Attorney General, provided a statement to ThinkProgress explaining his boss’ support for this legislation. The statement is copied below, with an added link to a news story Walczak identified as the “law enforcement issue” prompting the legislation:
At the request of one of his local Commonwealth’s Attorneys, Senator Obenshain carried legislation (SB 962 of 2009) dealing with a specific law enforcement issue. As sometimes happens, the legislation that emerged was far too broad, and would have had ramifications that neither he nor the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office ever intended. Senator Obenshain is strongly against imposing any added burden for women who suffer a miscarriage, and that was never the intent of the legislation. He explored possible amendments to address the bill’s unintended consequences, and met with representatives of both Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice in an attempt to identify a solution. Ultimately, however, he was not satisfied that any amendment could sufficiently narrow the scope of the bill to eliminate these unintended consequences, so he had the bill stricken at his own request.
Obenshain’s bill was indeed “stricken at request of patron” as Walczak states.
12:17 PM PT: Update 2: "Baby in Landfill Case" http://www.nbc29.com/...