Watch out for the Uterus Police in Georgia!

Sometimes, blog material just falls right into my lap. This one jumped off my screen and punched me in the face. I was innocently browsing a message board I frequent, and saw a posting titled "What is going on in Georgia?" I don't live in Georgia, but since it shares a border with my state I was curious and opened the post. Then the links given.

And I was sickened by what I read.

State Representative Bobby Franklin has introduced a bill into the legislation that declares Georgia exempt from Roe v Wade and makes termination of pregnancy under ANY circumstances illegal. No exceptions. Ectopic pregnancies? Too bad. Mr Franklin would rather have the mother die. A 13 year old girl gets raped and a pregnancy occurs? Deal with it.

Also, this bill would require EVERY miscarriage to be reported and investigated to prove that it happened naturally. If a doctor cannot determine why a miscarriage occured (and so many have no clear reasons) the mother can be prosecuted for causing the miscarriage.

This is wrong on so many levels!

This is from the National Library of Medicine:
It is estimated that up to half of all fertilized eggs die and are lost (aborted) spontaneously, usually before the woman knows she is pregnant. Among those women who know they are pregnant, the miscarriage rate is about 15-20%. Most miscarriages occur during the first 7 weeks of pregnancy. The rate of miscarriage drops after the baby's heart beat is detected.
The risk for miscarriage is higher in women:

• Older than 35
• Who have had previous miscarriages

So according to Mr Franklin, Every. Single. One. of these miscarriages should be investigated. Grieving parents should be treated like criminals because for some reason, the baby they so desperately wanted did not grow to full term. And just how will these be investigated? Sometimes, the doctors just don't know why a miscarriage occured. Will the Uterus Police (as they are being called) do their own blood tests to make sure the mother didn't take something to cause miscarriage? Use high-tech CSI methods to ensure she didn't stick something into her uterus? Maybe Mr Franklin would prefer monitoring in the homes of every woman of childbearing age to be sure they aren't causing their fetus to die.

Since I don't live in Georgia, I can't write to my state representatives about this insane bill. But if you do, you can make your thoughts known loud and clear! There isn't a great chance of this passing as it stands, but you never know. Women can't risk what little privacy we have left!

Here is the full text of the bill. I highly recommend everyone reads it. http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20112012/108128.pdf