legislative antics in Virginia

[cellio]

It's only the first week of January, and already we have a strong contender for most reprehensible legislation of the year. If this passes, then in the state of Virginia a woman who has a miscarriage will be required to notify government authorities within 12 hours or face a year in jail. Yes, you read that right. (Info from celebrin.)

I am rarely speechless, but I'm having trouble putting my outrage into words right now.

Update Sat 9:30pm: According to the person who posted the news initially, there has been some progress based on the huge outcry (thanks to paquerette for the update). There's still more that needs to be done, but the response from the blogosphere seems to have made a difference. Stay tuned.

Comments

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know what the chances of this passing are? I mean it could be one of those things that has no chance of passing, in which case its a moot point.

I really don't know. But wow is this dumb.

[cellio]

Not entirely moot -- every attempt to do something this stupid marginally increases the chance of a future stupid act staying on the books, as just a few more people think about it and say "yeah that would be a good idea". (Skeptics are already skeptics, so I think the "boy is that stupid" side picks up fewer people for future fights.)