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Friday, January 07, 2005

Life for women of childbearing age in the Bush Reich
Posted by Jill | 9:42 AM

Looks like this is going to have to be #1 of a series.

"Maura in VA" at Daily Kos is reporting that Virginia legislator John A. Cosgrove is proposing legislation (HB1677, "Report of Fetal Death by mother, penalty")which requires any woman who experiences "fetal death" without a doctor's assistance to report this to the local law-enforcement agency within twelve hours of the miscarriage. Failure to do so is punishable as a Class 1 Misdemeanor.

What this means is that if you miscarry, endure the pain and bleeding of a miscarriage for hours, and then fall asleep, exhausted -- and you do not awaken and report the miscarriage to the police within 12 hours, you are guilty of a crime.

"Maura in VA" notes that there is no law mandating that a woman must report a pregnancy to the Commonwealth, or even seek medical treatment for one. But this bill proposes that a woman report a LOSS of a pregnancy to the Commonwealth, whatever the gestational age of the embryo/fetus.

Here's the information that health care pracitioners have to report. The legislation provides for NO change, which means that the woman herself would have to provide this:

- place of occurrence
- usual residence of patient (mother)
- full maiden name of patient
- medical record number and social security number of patient
- Hispanic origin, if any, and race of patient
- age of patient
- education of patient
- sex of fetus
- patient married to father
- previous deliveries to patient
- single or plural delivery and order of plural delivery
- date of delivery
- date of last normal menses and physician's estimate of gestation
- weight of fetus in grams
- month of pregnancy care began (sic)
- number of prenatal visits
- when fetus died
- congenital malformations, if any
- events of labor and delivery
- medical history for this pregnancy
- other history for this pregnancy
- obstetric procedures and method of delivery
- autopsy
- medical certification of cause of spontaneous fetal death
- signature of attending physician or medical examiner including title, address and date signed
- method of disposal of fetus
- signature and address of funeral director or hospital representative
- date received by registrar
- registrar's signature
- registration area and report numbers.


You see of course where this is going...this legislator is simply getting ready for when the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Virginia is one of 30 states that is ready and waiting to make abortion illegal in that state the minute it becomes legally possible to do so. By requiring women who miscarry alone to report their miscarriages to law enforcement authorities under penalty of imprisonment, they're getting ready to prosecute women who attempt to obtain illegal abortions.

The author of this Kos diary reports also that the legislative agenda of numerous anti-abortion groups includes increased reporting of fetal deaths and issuance of death certificates for miscarriages. The point is to advance the legal recognition of "personhood" for all "products of conception".

Now think about this for a minute. These groups believe that human life begins at conception, and that conception occurs at fertilization, not at implantation. I've been saying for years that since up to 30% of fertilized eggs never implant for a variety of reason, a logical result of this would be a requirement that women submit their used sanitary products to the government to make sure that no fertilized eggs were passed, and if they were, the woman could be prosecuted. This legislation makes what people used to call crazy ranting no longer seen so crazy.

I wonder what all of the young women who felt that reproductive autonomy wasn't an important issue for them will think when this is implemented?

I'm at the age now where you start joking about hot flashes. Some women are saddened by menopause. Not me, brothers and sisters. I regard it as a blessing from God, given what Republican leaders in this country want to do with fertile women's bodies.
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