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Women could face death penalty for miscarriage or abortion

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Summary from Mother Jones, 24.02.11

Georgia State representative Bobby Franklin—who last year proposed changing rape and domestic violence “victims” into “accusers”—has introduced a 10-page bill that would criminalize miscarriages and make abortion in Georgia completely illegal.

Potentially, both abortions and miscarriages could be punishable by death. Franklin believes that any ‘pre-natal murder’ as he calls it in the bill, including ‘human involvement’ in miscarriage would be a felony and carry a penalty of life in prison or death.

Although doubtful that a bill that makes a legal medical procedure liable for the death penalty will pass, journalist Jen Phillips makes the point that it shows an astonishing lack of concern for women’s health.

Under the bill, 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.

Phillips adds: ‘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.’

Now I think I’ve heard it all.

  1. This is awful. However, in most Mexican states (and some countries in Central America) this is already as reality. Although Mexico does not have the death penalty, women are regularly locked away for substantial periods (up to 20 years) accused of “murder by relative” . There are hundreds of challenges facing the feminist movement at the moment, but I think the fight against misgynist bigoted legislation of this ilk has to be one the most important.

    • I seriously thinking most people are missing the issue here. While I am not in support of the proposed bill I also do not think that abortion should be used as a feature to being irresponsible or stupid.

      So you have an abortion once while I do not advocate that I understand that it is sometimes the only answer but abortion is not a form of birth control either

      Women who abuse the right to pro life action should be required at some point to have their tube tied so that it is not an issue in the future.

      After all wouldn’t that be looking out for the best interest of Womens Health as well since the process can damage you on a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level?

  2. @Ravenna: I think that it is you who are missing the point here. This proposed law does not intend to discriminate between women who may have been “irresponsible or stupid” and those women who may have become pregnant while using contraception (which happens regularly, no contraception but abstinance is 100% reliable) or as the product of unwanted sexual assault. It does not distinguish between having one abortion or five (or whatever your definition of too many is). It proposes to criminalise any abortion; however the pregnancy may have ocurred.

    My previous comment was aimed at showing the secondary consequence of such a law: women being punished for having a spontaneous miscarriage/still birth as currently happens in Mexico and Nicarauga. It also appears to start from the premise that all miscarriages are abortions unless proved otherwise which is a nasty inversion of the “innocent til proven guilty” basis of the judicial system in the US and UK.

  3. Why women miscarry is still a mystery to medical science. There are untold factors that could influence whether the baby is carried to term or not. To find out more, read this: http://morningquickie.com/2011/02/25/miscarriage-is-not-your-fault-and-not-a-crime/

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