A Miscarriage Of Justice
Utah’s proposed legislation is hardly surprising since we already knew the pro-life movement is all about controlling and punishing women.
A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate this week and waiting for the governor’s signature, will make it a crime for a woman to have a miscarriage…. In addition to criminalizing an intentional attempt to induce a miscarriage or abortion, the bill also creates a standard that could make women legally responsible for miscarriages caused by “reckless” behavior. Using the legal standard of “reckless behavior” all a district attorney needs to show is that a woman behaved in a manner that is thought to cause miscarriage, even if she didn’t intend to lose the pregnancy.
Reckless behavior? Like wearing high heels? This is just crazy. It also promises to be a bureaucratic nightmare – not that conservatives will have a problem with government spending over this. But how exactly would you prove such things? Dan Savage asks the same questions…
If every miscarriage is a potential homicide, how does Utah avoid launching a criminal investigation every time a woman has a miscarriage? And women have a lot of miscarriages: one in four pregnancies end in a miscarriage. And how is Utah supposed to know when a pregnant woman has had a miscarriage? You’re going to have to create some sort of pregnancy registry to keep track of all those fetuses, Utah. Perhaps you could start issuing “conception certificates” to women who get pregnant? And then, if there isn’t a baby within nine months of the issuance of a conception certificate, the woman could be hauled in for questioning and she could be indicted for criminal homicide if it’s determined that she intentionally or accidentally induced a miscarriage. Of course, lots of women miscarry before they even realize their pregnant… so Utah will have to pass another law, one that compels all sexually active women—actually, let’s just say all women, Utah, since some sexually active women claim they’re chaste—to come in for mandatory monthly pregnancy tests…
One in four pregnancies end in miscarriage. Guess doctors are going to have to start reporting patients to the government of Utah. And these idiots are the ones screaming about freedom and comparing Democrats to nazis. Project much.
Utah consumes more porn on a per capita basis than any other state. Just sayin’
Yeah, but in Utah, National Geographic may be considered porn…
Also, I think there should be mandatory minimum sentences. Say 10 years for your first, 20 for your second. I am guessing recidivism rates would be pretty low.
Plus, Sarah Palin would already be in jail.
Prolly use more of it now. Is Dick Pound from Utah?
A registry of sexually active women? Would the registry be a bit more particular, like giving personal preferences of who would be an acceptable partner?
This looks like they could start charging for access to the registry and have a wildly profitable dating service. Instead of going to Thailand, weird Gernamics will start vacationing in Utah.
Somehow I don’t think the law actually means what you screaming mimis want it to mean.
Seems to me that if a women has a miscarriage and someone accuses her of reckless behavior – or maybe overheard her say she wished she wasn’t pregnant, a common occurrence, btw – then she could be charged.
it’s a slippery slope RWR. What is reckless? is it drinking or doing drugs? is it lifting something too heavy in the yard? not wearing a seatbelt? riding a roller coaster? continuing to work in your 9th month? did they have to know they were being reckless or are we using the reasonable person standard? any fan of less government should be terrified of this one.
Why do conservatives always want to sneak into people’s bedrooms and bathrooms? It’s just disgusting.
how many of you are planning to move to Utah? I’d guess 0. This is the reason why states have their own legislation. So that their population can run it how they deem best. If they have as big a problem with it as you do, it won’t pass.
Bathrooms??
The only place that you can get virgin wool in Utah is from the sheep that can out run the Mormons and republicans.
Yes, bathrooms. You do know what happens when a woman has a miscarriage early in the pregnancy would probably mistake it for her period.
We care because it’s a stupid law and we certainly don’t want some nutty Utah law spreading through the rest of the country. If you don’t think we should care about what happens in other states, just look at the disproportionate influence of the idiots on the textbooks in the whole country.
One in four pregnancies end in miscarriage.
And it goes up to three out of four if you are older. So “getting pregnant while old” is pretty reckless.
What about “getting pregnant from sex with Republicans” (of course, that is apparently only possible if you frequent airport men’s restrooms or live in Argentina)?