Miscarriages, Spontaneous abortions. God's abortions. Surely, if there is a god, it must have been the Will and Work of Almighty God!
But, whatever the cause of miscarriage, spontaneous abortion (in my case the Rh factor was a factor), there have been legislative attempts to make people like me criminal in Virginia:
UPDATED: Virginia GOP Nominee For Attorney General Introduced Bill Forcing Women To Report Their Miscarriages To Police ....
MAY 20, 2013 AT 10:35 AM UPDATED: MAY 20, 2013 AT 1:18 PM
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.
And yet, the Virginia Republican Party wants to make Obenshain into the state’s top prosecutor. This weekend, Virginia Republicans selected Obenshain as their nominee to replace tea party stalwart Ken Cuccinelli (R) as the state’s attorney general.
In Georgia:
Anti-Abortion Georgia Lawmaker Proposes Law That Would Criminalize Miscarriages
... 02/23/2011 5:22 pm EST Updated: 05/25/2011 6:35 pm EDT
.... Today comes word that Georgia state Representative Bobby Franklin is shopping a bill that wouldn't just make abortion illegal in Georgia, it would criminalize miscarriages to boot.
It's already the rule of law in many parts of Roman Catholic Latin America:
.... Statistically 15-25% of women in childbearing years will suffer a miscarriage anywhere from 5 to 20 weeks gestation. In the United States, when we suffer a miscarriage we go to the hospital. Often times the visit results in a dilation and curettage (or D&C) to stop bleeding and possible infection. For me this was also done after the doctors removed the baby girl that was dead inside of my womb.
If this would have occurred in certain Latin American countries, especially in El Salvador, Chile, Colombia, Malta, Nicaragua, and even Mexico, the emergency room doctor would notify the authorities of my miscarriage and I would be arrested and jailed anywhere from 3-50 years for having an “abortion.”
Yeppers. This is just part of the ongoing War Against Women and typical anti-abortion hysteria:
Given that anti-choice hysteria is, you know, hysteria, it was always destined to infect areas of life beyond the decision to deliberately terminate a pregnancy. If you have any doubt about that, please bear witness to the three-ring circus that arose because of a miscarriage last week. Yes, even though spontaneous miscarriages occur in 10 to 20 percent of known pregnancies, paranoia and anger about the ones deliberately induced by abortion is making it unsafe for all women to go through this natural and common life process.
Come on, boys, admit it. You just plain want to criminalize women.
Below the fold: Kansas and other possible states.
Kansas:
October 1, 2014
A proposed bill before the Kansas state legislature would require women to report miscarriages at any stage in pregnancy. This has been described as the first step along the path to criminalizing pregnant women’s bodies. Under an amendment attached to House Bill 2613, doctors would be required to report all of their patients’ miscarriages to the state health department, Tara Culp-Ressler reported for ThinkProgress.
Tennessee:
The abortion wars aren’t ending anytime soon in Tennessee where last week the state House of Representatives approved a bill allowing homicide and assault prosecutions in the death of embryos in the earliest stages of development.
As Robin Marty reports, the bill exposes women for possible prosecution if she miscarries or even has a period.
Mississippi:
Mississippi’s state Supreme Court is currently considering a case that could lead to women being prosecuted for manslaughter if they miscarry or otherwise experience unintentional pregnancy loss, according to a report from Kate Sheppard at Mother Jones.
In 2009, two months after Nina Buckhalter’s pregnancy ended in stillbirth, a Mississippi grand jury indicted her for manslaughter, citing her use of methamphetamine while pregnant as “culpable negligence.” Buckhalter’s attorneys challenged the charge; the Supreme Court hearing began in April and a ruling is expected soon.