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Friday, November 16, 2007

And you thought I was being overly dramatic about sending used tampons for government inspections
Posted by Jill | 10:09 AM
If this law in Colorado passes, that's exactly what you'd theoretically have to do (no, I'm not going to say "conceivably". That would be tacky):

The Colorado Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for an anti-abortion group to collect signatures for a ballot measure that would define a fertilized egg as a person.

The court approved the language of the proposal, rejecting a challenge from abortion-rights supporters who argued it was misleading and dealt with more than one subject in violation of the state constitution.

If approved by voters, the measure would give fertilized eggs the state constitutional protections of inalienable rights, justice and due process.

[snip]

t doesn't outlaw abortion, it doesn't regulate birth control," said Kristi Burton, 20, of Colorado for Equal Rights. "It's just a constitutional principle. We're laying a foundation that every life deserves protection.

Burton said the initiative would simply define a human.

"It's very clearly a single subject," Burton said. "If it's a human being, it's a person, and hey, they deserve equal rights under our law."


Back in the real world:
"Even if there were an accurate test for fertilization, a finding that some fertilized eggs do not implant after ECPs are taken would not mean that ECPs can work after fertilization, since many if not most fertilized eggs do not implant. ("Mechanism of action of emergency contraception pills", Contraception 74, 87-89)

How pregnancy (conception) occurs

Most women are able to become pregnant from puberty, when their menstrual cycles begin, until menopause, when their cycles stop. A pregnancy starts with fertilization, when a woman''s egg joins with a man''s sperm. Fertilization usually takes place in a fallopian tube that links an ovary to the uterus. If the fertilized egg successfully travels down the fallopian tube and implants in the uterus, an embryo starts growing.

Ovulation, fertilization, implantation

All the eggs for a woman''s lifetime are stored in her ovaries. Women do not continually produce eggs. This is different from men, who continuously make more sperm.

About once a month, an egg is released Click here to see an illustration. from one of a woman''s two ovaries. This is called ovulation. The egg then enters the nearby fallopian tube that leads to the uterus.

If a woman and a man have unprotected sexual intercourse, sperm that is ejaculated from the man''s penis may reach the egg in the fallopian tube. If one of the sperm cells penetrates the egg, the egg is fertilized and begins developing.

The egg takes several days to travel down the fallopian tube into the uterus. Once in the uterus, a fertilized egg usually attaches to (implants in) the lining of the uterus (endometrium). However, not all fertilized eggs successfully implant. If the egg is not fertilized or does not implant, the woman''s body sheds the egg and the endometrium. This shedding causes the bleeding in a woman''s menstrual period

When a fertilized egg does implant (conception), a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) begins to be produced in the uterus. This is the hormone that a pregnancy test measures. It prevents the uterine lining from being shed, so the woman does not have a period. O
Author: Merrill Hayden Last Updated May 23, 2006
Medical Review: Joy Melnikow, MD, MPH - Family Medicine
Kirtly Jones, MD - Obstetrics and Gynecology

© 1995-2007, Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.


So if this law passes, it means that if you have an ectopic pregnancy, you must die because your fertilized egg, which implanted in your fallopian tube, has a "right to life" -- even if it kills both itself and you in the process. It means no more IUDs, because IUDs make the uterus inhospitable to fertilized eggs. And it means that if you have a menstrual period, you may be committing murder if you had a fertilized egg that didn't implant -- whether you knew it or not.

So tell me how this law should NOT require government inspection of the products of menstruation?
(h/t)

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