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Making Miscarriages Illegal in GA?
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27 Feb 2011, 04:50
Beautiful Lies
Post Count: 402
Wait, really?

Ga. Law Could Give Death Penalty for Miscarriages
— By Jen Phillips| Wed Feb. 23, 2011 4:32 AM PST

It's only February, but this year has been a tough one for women's health and reproductive rights. There's a new bill on the block that may have reached the apex (I hope) of woman-hating craziness. Georgia State Rep. Bobby Franklin—who last year proposed making rape and domestic violence "victims" into "accusers"—has introduced a 10-page bill that would criminalize miscarriages and make abortion in Georgia completely illegal. Both miscarriages and abortions would be potentially punishable by death: any "prenatal murder" in the words of the bill, including "human involvement" in a miscarriage, would be a felony and carry a penalty of life in prison or death. Basically, it's everything an "pro-life" activist could want aside from making all women who've had abortions wear big red "A"s on their chests.

I doubt that a bill that makes a legal medical procedure liable for the death penalty will pass. The bill, however, shows an astonishing lack of concern for women's health and well-being. Under Rep. Franklin's bill, HB 1, women who miscarry could become felons if they cannot prove that there was "no human involvement whatsoever in the causation" of their miscarriage. There is no clarification of what "human involvement" means, and this is hugely problematic as medical doctors do not know exactly what causes miscarriages. Miscarriages are estimated to terminate up to a quarter of all pregnancies and the Mayo Clinic says that "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."

Holding women criminally liable for a totally natural, common biological process is cruel and non-sensical. Even more ridiculous, the bill holds women responsible for protecting their fetuses from "the moment of conception," despite the fact that pregnancy tests aren't accurate until at least 3 weeks after conception. Unless Franklin (who is not a health professional) invents a revolutionary intrauterine conception alarm system, it's unclear how exactly the state of Georgia would enforce that rule other than holding all possibly-pregnant women under lock and key.

I've seen a lot of anti-woman, hate-filled bills this year, but this one takes the cake. And it's not just anti-woman, it's anti-logic. The bill contends that Georgia is exempt from upholding Supreme Court decisions like Roe v. Wade because the Constitution's Article I only governs five crimes: counterfeiting, piracy, high seas felonies, offenses against the law of nations, and treason. According to the bill, since murder is not one of those five crimes, it should be solely governed by the state. The bill also mandates that doctors must try to save the mother and the fetus, even though as we know, there are many situations in which both cannot be saved. It also changes medical terminology, re-designating all zygotes, embryos, and concepti as fetuses. In the bill's logic, a fertilized egg is the same as a person, and its destruction is murder. Sometimes even a fertilized egg will fail to adhere to the uterine lining, so would that make a uterus a murderer? At least the bill doesn't propose instituting pro-life Stork Bucks or outlawing "space abortions"...yet.

http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/02/miscarriage-death-penalty-georgia
0 likes [|reply]
27 Feb 2011, 05:09
Chris
Post Count: 1938
Bills like this get proposed all the time by the lunatic fundamentalists. They never, ever get through.
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27 Feb 2011, 05:37
Jessica [Private]
Post Count: 1751
"human involvement" in a miscarriage
Like pushing a woman down a flight of stairs? THAT I would be all for punishing the scumbag.


But overall this sounds really stupid.
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27 Feb 2011, 13:40
& skull.
Post Count: 1701
it scares me that there are people out there that think this is an ok way of thinking enough to try to introduce a bill about it. seriously, why aren't we allowed to execute people like that?
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27 Feb 2011, 13:50
an empty frame.
Post Count: 82
What the FUCK???!! Are the people writing these bills not educated beyond primary school or just insane? Or do they live on another planet perhaps? What the holy crapoly.
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27 Feb 2011, 14:28
~RedFraggle~
Post Count: 2651
I second what others have said. This is just ridiculous. Given that the vast majority of abortions are just the body ridding itself of a fetus that isn't developing right (usually genetic abnormalities), it also seems completely pointless.
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27 Feb 2011, 22:00
American
Post Count: 221
@RedFraggle I assume you meant miscarriages and not "abortions?" lol :P I'm pro-life, conservative, etc..and this bill (as the description above describes it - haven't gone to read it yet) seems a bit extreme. I agree w/ Jessica in the human involvement part - but, how do you human involvement (or no human involvement)? Can you?

It seems odd that there would be any kind of bill about miscarriages when I don't even think miscarriages are a huge issue (if any issue at all) for fundamentalists or pro-lifers, etc.
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27 Feb 2011, 22:01
American
Post Count: 221
**edit** Supposed to read "how do you PROVE human involvement..."
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27 Feb 2011, 22:26
~RedFraggle~
Post Count: 2651
@iWrite. Sorry, that was misleading of me. I meant 'spontaneous abortions', which is the medical term for miscarriages. To clarify I meant miscarriage.
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1 Mar 2011, 02:22
American
Post Count: 221
@ RedFraggle Oh, see, I did not know that 'spontaneous abortions' was a medical term at all. Learn something new everyday, right? Haha.
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1 Mar 2011, 10:34
lithium layouts.
Post Count: 836
Oops sorry, didn't see this post. =)
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1 Mar 2011, 10:34
lithium layouts.
Post Count: 836
@iWRITE I think she means spontaneous abortions, which is basically another term for miscarriage.
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27 Feb 2011, 22:07
mommyto4bratz
Post Count: 36
This is crazy. There are so many women who try and try for a child and end up having a ton of miscarriages. They are heartbreaking to go through so why punish a woman even more for something she coudln't control?
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28 Feb 2011, 01:01
Fiat
Post Count: 288
Sounds like they're trying to criminalize self-performed abortions, not necessarily a natural spontaneous abortion. I get the idea that this bill is targeting women who, say, purposely attempt to harm their unborn child (perhaps through drugs or alcohol?). Interestingly, this is similar to Bush's Unborn Victims of Violence Act which makes killing or harming a pregnant woman punishable as two counts - one for the woman, one for the baby. That bill passed without much controversy.
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28 Feb 2011, 03:22
Beautiful Lies
Post Count: 402
Well the problem is that they don't really identify or specify what 'human involvement' actually means. So we can assume what they're trying to say but who knows, since it's not clarified.

Also it talks about a woman having to protect their unborn child from the MOMENT of conception. Again a little ridiculous because how do you know the exact time that the egg is fertilized. This bill is just all sorts of wrong. Doubt it'll get through.
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28 Feb 2011, 06:46
.love.struck.
Post Count: 492
Are you kidding me??? A woman has her rights. Freaking nutty lunatics.
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28 Feb 2011, 13:45
Half Dozen Mama
Post Count: 93
I'm going to play devils advocate here, and go out on a limb to say.... this article makes it a little more dramatic than it actually is.

This bill that Franklin proposed would just make any fetal death investigatable. Spontaneous abortion, otherwise known as miscarriage, included.
GA hospitals would be required to report any fetal death. (again, miscarriage included.) A death certificate would be issued, and an investigation as to what led to fetal demise could be done if the circumstances seem "suspicious." Not ALL miscarriages would be investigated. And women who miscarried spontaneously would NOT be held liable, at all.

I'm not saying it isn't completely ridiculous. I'm just saying, the previous article is a little dramatic making it sound as if any women who loses a child beyond her control is going to be doomed to a prison sentence. :-/

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/22/georgia-anti-abortion-bill-would-require-investigations-of-miscarriages/
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1 Mar 2011, 02:26
American
Post Count: 221
@Blessed Mama - I hadn't read the bill, as I said, but the article did sound a little dramatic. And it being written for Mother Jones should have put up a red flag of left/liberal spin. Anything I've ever read from them is spun so. I shall read the bill myself, if I can find it, and see.
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1 Mar 2011, 03:52
Acid Fairy
Post Count: 1849
What kind of fucked up freaks live in this world?

I mean HONESTLY. You CANNOT tell someone else what to do. Abortions will still go on, whether they like it or not. And being able to prove there was no human involvement in a miscarriage? Dear god, how many late periods are actually very early miscarriages? And nobody even realises!

This just seems to me like there are some people in the world that are still terrified of women being independent beings who aren't under the thumb of their husbands and are -shock horror- in control of their own bodies and fertility. It actually scares me.

Get the fuck over it you crazy fundamental retards! (No offence to actual 'retards' meant.)

Not for the last time, I am so glad I live in Europe.
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1 Mar 2011, 06:11
starsmaycollide
Post Count: 408
Ditto Anonymous Source. This was never going to pass, and Franklin knows it. Even in the south, he's clearly beyond the range of the usual 'right wing', and even Georgia residents think this is ridiculous.

This is just another example of a politician creating legislation for the sole purpose of expressing a personal point of view, not at all to ACTUALLY pass and become a law. It's just another way elected officials like to waste time these days, instead of doing something productive that would actually help the people who voted for them.

An opposite end of the spectrum example-there's a new "movement" for a southern area of Arizona to secede from the rest of the state , and there is no way legislation would ever pass that would allow this. However the people who brought it up did it solely to express their point of view that they believe Arizona has become too conservative in its policies regarding issues like illegal immigration. They don't ACTUALLY want to be the 51st state. :-P
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