That Bill in Georgia

[jennythereader]

I've been waiting to post about this until I saw a "just the facts" news story, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Rather than linking to a news story with any particular slant, I decided to just link directly to the bill.

This bill, under consideration in the Georgia General Assembly, would re-define abortion as "prenatal murder" and therefore make it illegal in the state of Georgia. I think it's a bad idea, but that's not actually what has me outraged.

What has me outraged is that section 2.14 seems to say that all miscarriages should be assumed to be induced (and therefore murder) until an investigation proves otherwise. I can't imagine what this would do to a family already dealing with the trauma of the loss of a desperately wanted baby.

NOTE: I do not want to get into an argument about abortion. I know what I believe, and you aren't going to change my mind. You know what you believe, and I doubt anyone is going to change your mind. I will freeze any and all threads that turn into arguments. I will ban commenters who continue to argue.

Comments

[arathreel.livejournal.com]

Having had a miscarriage right before becoming pregnant with Johann, all I can say is 'oof' and I plan to never live or even set foot in Georgia again. Just the thought of having people investigate me makes me feel... so angry and depressed. Thank you for sharing this. I don't keep as up with the news as I probably should.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

I've mostly heard about this from assorted blogs. As far as I can tell there hasn't been any mainstream news coverage of it.

[nounsandverbs]

These bills are all making me ill. Next time someone tells me the Tea Party is just about fiscal conservatism, I'm slapping them.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

There's definetly a strain of fiscal conservatism in the Tea Party, but they seem all too willing to throw it and the "small government" idea out the window when they want to protect their version of social conservatism.

[nounsandverbs]

And that certainly makes it look like the whole "small government" idea is just a smokescreen to get their extreme right-wing ideas past the electorate (something they're all too willing to accuse the left of doing) and to rope in conservatives of good will who might not otherwise be on board with this extremism.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Which is something I've been saying for years.

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

as someone on the other side of the abortion debate... i absolutely agree that this provision is terrible.

i have miscarried repeatedly.
my mom did so 8 times AND had a still born baby

but this bill requires "someone" (who i dont know) to investigate every miscarriage for cause/criminal behavior.

shya, right
who the heck is going to do it?
who is going to PAY for it?
and just how many women (and men) are going to put up with it?

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[purpura.livejournal.com]

And what happened to that little thing called "innocent until proven guilty?" How is it legal to presume guilt? Oh wait, were women, we don't count.

How do these *insert expletive here* people live with themselves?

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

I really don't know.

Although... I don't know that assuming a crime has been committed until proven otherwise is quite the same as presuming guilt. Of course, in this case if a "crime" has been committed then there's pretty much only one person who could be guilty of it.

[jarien.livejournal.com]

Most states don't assume there's a crime committed if a victim of rape walks into an ER for treatment. There's no automatic assumption that the violence done is a crime. No automatic collection of evidence, so that prosecution can happen. No automatic calling of the police. Nope.

If the faceless "they" don't assume that violent assault is a crime, the faceless "they" can't assume that miscarriage is a crime either.

Rawr. Really think I should move to a deserted island somewhere.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

I knew some states were like that. Lovely.

[jarien.livejournal.com]

I was really excited a while back that there was a move to tie federal funding for hospitals to a requirement that hospitals make evidence collection kits more available and routine, and provide for storage of evidence in case a victim later does decide to prosecute... that's why this one sticks in my mind.

[dwarven-brewer.livejournal.com]

Oddly, NYS, isn't one of them. (NYS being so bassackwards in other areas as you might expect they would be) I can tell you EMS and Hospital personnel are trained in the proper care & treatment of the individual and collection of evidence in such cases. Ultimate prosecution, however, is another matter.

[purpura.livejournal.com]

I did know this. Oddly enough from watching an episode of one of the crime shows, and then I looked up the info to see if it rang true.

Does make me happy about NY though.

[purpura.livejournal.com]

Wait, they're not victims now, they're acusers.

Because women don't count; see above. I'm almost so upset over all this that I'm getting numb to it. Which is probably the response "they" want.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

The guy who proposed that particular change is the same one who is doing this bill.

Horrible person!

[magpie49.livejournal.com]

I read the bill, and it does not have any provision that I could see for the unfortunate woman with an ectopic pregnancy.

Medical opinion says the misplaced embryo will not survive to see live birth; the mother is likely to die from internal bleeding if not treated promptly. NIH documentation says ectopic pregnancy occurs in 1 in 40 to 1 in 100 conceptions.

So... Bobby Franklin is concerned about the number of workers lost from "fetal murder". Is he not concerned about the number of workers who might be lost from lack of legal treatment?

I sent an email to him asking generally that. I'll let you know if I get a response.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

That would be interesting. Please do.

[dwarven-brewer.livejournal.com]

I had wondered what Southern Christian Theocratic State might look like. Thank you Georgia for this glimpse of a torturous hell. I had hoped such potential dystopian visions could have been contained to allusions of what might happen as mentioned within the pages of Kevin Phillip's American Theocracy. :-(

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

It's like we're backing up into The Handmaid's Tale (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307264602?ie=UTF8&tag=occasrefleons-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307264602)

[dwarven-brewer.livejournal.com]

I wonder what this country would be like if it had remained a Republic (as envisioned by the framers of the constitution) and not the Democracy we have become? It's a good bet @$$hats (Read: Extremists from either party-because, lets' face it. Neither party is innocent here) wouldn't make it into office if we had. :-(

[medelle.livejournal.com]

OK, the WTFedness aside on this... because it seriously is a WTF.

The thing I don't understand is how a single state can constitutionally make abortion illegal. Roe v. Wade was a Federal Supreme Court case, therefore the legality of abortion is a federal law.

My understanding is that a single state cannot constitutionally make a law that is against federal law.

i.e. A state cannot make something legal on a state level that is illegal on a federal level or make something illegal on a state level that is legal on a federal level.

*iz confused*

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

In the first part of the bill Franklin explains his reasoning for why he thinks it's legal for Georgia to pass it.

[marlenemcc.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if I'm speechless or so damn angry that I can't start speaking yet.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Either way... it's an outrage.

I wonder how long until somebody tries to pass a similar bill at the federal level.