This is why you need to keep an eye on women's rights. You. Yes, you. All persons of good will (among which group Virginia delegate John Cosgrove is patently not included). I know some of you who read this are anti-abortion. Some of you have beliefs on many other issues that are very different than mine. However, I can't imagine anyone who is interested in reading this site (more than once, anyway) would disagree with me that women are full human beings, deserving of respect both for the abilities they share with men and for their unique biological capabilities, and this bill flies in the face of both.
I read about this first from Twisted Chick via Bafleyanne but then I went and read the bill for myself rather than relying only on their interpretations. The bill would require all terminations of pregnancies to be reported in the first 12 or 24 hours, depending on whether a doctor is present. You think that's fine? Read the sentence again: ALL termination of pregnancy. That means spontaneous miscarriages, too.
As they say in Texas, that just ain't right.
Warning: the next bit was written with a sledgehammer, deliberately. Please skip a paragraph if you're feeling emotionally fragile.
This has happened to friends of mine recently - too many of them. Picture it. You long to have a baby. You dream about having a baby. You try hard to conceive. And - joy, wonder, delight - you do. And you carry a little clump of rapidly multiplying cells, feeling all the changes in your body, and dreaming dreams of holding a baby, sending a child off to school, sniffling at your grown baby's wedding - all the things that have become cliches because they're so universally felt. And then something goes wrong, either with your body or your baby. You bleed, you cramp, you miscarry, you cry, and you try to deal with having to rebuild your dreams without that baby in them. And then you have to report to your state within 12 hours, while you're still in shock and quite possibly still in pain, or risk being charged with a Class 1 (i.e. serious) misdemeanor.
It's possible Delegate Cosgrove is just an idiot, stupid rather than evil, and that he's only trying to prevent dumpster babies and coat-hanger abortions. The problem is that in his position, idiocy can lead to dire pain and consequences for some of his constituents. There's a quote from Robert Heinlein: "You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity." I submit that at a certain level, including that of elected state or federal representatives, stupidity is villainy, because of its potential to do great harm.
If you live in Virginia call or write your state representatives. If you live elsewhere, keep an eye on yours.
Posted by dichroic at January 7, 2005 09:09 AMI came to your blog to see your pics of Clapotis in Silk Garden (I have just begun mine in same) but I couldn't help but be absolutely sickened and enraged by the monstrosity of this proposed VA bill. I am undeniably pro-choice, politically, but had the experience of an (early, thank God) miscarriage in the 11th week of my first pregnancy. It was so heartbreaking to me at the time, so full of hope and expectations, to lose something that had become so precious to me. I was treated at the hospital, sedated, and had an emergency D&C. Just reading on my medical forms later that day that I had undergone a "therapeutic abortion" was intensely upsetting. To insist that a woman tragically losing a pregnancy report this to the state is disgusting and a torture.
Posted by: Beth S. at January 10, 2005 07:35 AM