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

[cecerose.livejournal.com]

It's simple: They must DIE.

What kind of idiot?!?!?!?!!

Never mind. I'm having my tubes tied, dammit.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I just posted this in my journal too. I can't imagine that people are going to agree to abide by this law.

I also forsee that if it passes there are going to be a lot of husbands making calls along the lines of "I'd like to report a miscarriage." That's not going to go over well.

[akitrom.livejournal.com]

Does anybody have any idea what purpose the bill's sponsor thinks needs addressing?

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

It appears to be a measure intended to curb illegal abortions.
Oh, wait, abortion's not illegal in Virginia.


The concept itself isn't so bad, it's the heavy penalty and the short time period that make it really stupid. I will optimisitically assume that they want the death statistics for things like determining "Hey, an abnormally high number of miscarriages are happening in that city over there, we should send someone to check the water and test for radiation leaks from the nuclear plant next door."

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Just based on the language of the bill, this is ridiculous.

I believe my state rep will get a letter... what is the purpose of this, and if the purpose itself is reasonable, how *should* it be accomplished?-- 'cause this sure ain't the right way to do it.

[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.

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

This makes no sense. I can't help but think about how much more pain it could cause the people I know who are struggling with infertility. If they are trying to crack down on the trashcan-baby phenomenon, they ought to work harder to catch and punish the offenders rather than harrassing the rest of us decent folk.