Under proposed legislation in Georgia, if you have a miscarriage, you will be investigated

I've been saying for years that by the time Christofascist Zombie Brigade is done, you'll have to send your used tampons to the government for inspection to make sure there are no fertilized eggs in them.

Proposed legislation by Georgia state representative Bobby Franklin goes far beyond banning abortion:

According to this law, any human intervention other than delivering a living fetus is a crime. Every physician must make an equal effort to save the life of mother and fetus, but if the fetus does die after such an effort, it isn't a crime. It allows an exception for spontaneous abortion AKA miscarriage--but only if there is no human intervention involved.

That banging sound you hear is me beating my head against the stone wall of sheer stupidity.

It goes on to state that any attempt to remove a fetus from the mother except to facilitate a live birth is murder. The doctor MUST do everything to save the life of both fetus and mother, but if the fetus doesn't survive despite this, it's not a crime. Abortion is now a form of murder.

I can see so many issues with this bill.

There are situations where you can't save the life of both fetus and mother.

* What if the woman learns that she has cancer and must terminate the pregnancy in order to get treatment? No exception for that in this bill.

* What about a case where the woman is hemorrhaging, the bleeding can't be stopped and the doctor must save her and abort the fetus? No exception for that.

* What if she has a partial miscarriage, and is bleeding heavily. Must she wait until her body naturally ejects the dead fetus, even though carrying a dead fetus can lead to septic shock? Doesn't sound like there's an exception for that.

* What if it's an ectopic pregnancy? You cannot save the fetus and the mother in such a case.

* What if the woman is told she's carrying an anecephalic fetus with only a brain stem which will be non-viable outside the womb? Must she carry that fetus full-term?

It gets worse. Franklin wants to create a Uterus Police to investigate miscarriages, and requires that any time a miscarriage occurs, whether in a hospital or without medical assistance, it must be reported and a fetal death certificate issued. If the cause of death is unknown, it must be investigated. If the woman can't tell how it happened, than those Uterus Police can ask family members and friends how it happened. Hospitals are required to keep records of anyone who has a spontaneous abortion and report it. Yup, we've been waiting for someone to suggest this--and Franklin has.

Here is the bill, and here is the Uterus Police clause, from section 2.14:

Preparation and filing of reports of spontaneous fetal death shall be as follows:
(1) When a dead fetus is delivered in an institution, the person in charge of the institution or that person's designated representative shall prepare and file the report;
When a dead fetus is delivered outside an institution, the physician in attendance at or immediately after delivery shall prepare and file the report;
When a spontaneous fetal death required to be reported by this Code section occurs
211 without medical attendance at or immediately after the delivery or when inquiry is
212 required by Article 2 of Chapter 16 of Title 45, the 'Georgia Death Investigation Act,' the proper investigating official shall investigate the cause of fetal death and shall prepare and file the report within 30 days; and
(4) When a spontaneous fetal death occurs in a moving conveyance and the fetus is first removed from the conveyance in this state or when a dead fetus is found in this state and the place of fetal death is unknown, the fetal death shall be reported in this state. The place where the fetus was first removed from the conveyance or the dead fetus was found shall be considered the place of fetal death."

Just another dispatch from the Republican war on women.

And you thought I was being overly dramatic about sending used tampons for government inspections

If this law in Colorado passes, that's exactly what you'd theoretically have to do (no, I'm not going to say "conceivably". That would be tacky):

The Colorado Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for an anti-abortion group to collect signatures for a ballot measure that would define a fertilized egg as a person.

The court approved the language of the proposal, rejecting a challenge from abortion-rights supporters who argued it was misleading and dealt with more than one subject in violation of the state constitution.

If approved by voters, the measure would give fertilized eggs the state constitutional protections of inalienable rights, justice and due process.

[snip]

t doesn't outlaw abortion, it doesn't regulate birth control," said Kristi Burton, 20, of Colorado for Equal Rights. "It's just a constitutional principle. We're laying a foundation that every life deserves protection.

Burton said the initiative would simply define a human.

"It's very clearly a single subject," Burton said. "If it's a human being, it's a person, and hey, they deserve equal rights under our law."

Back in the real world:

"Even if there were an accurate test for fertilization, a finding that some fertilized eggs do not implant after ECPs are taken would not mean that ECPs can work after fertilization, since many if not most fertilized eggs do not implant. ("Mechanism of action of emergency contraception pills", Contraception 74, 87-89)

How pregnancy (conception) occurs

Most women are able to become pregnant from puberty, when their menstrual cycles begin, until menopause, when their cycles stop. A pregnancy starts with fertilization, when a woman''s egg joins with a man''s sperm. Fertilization usually takes place in a fallopian tube that links an ovary to the uterus. If the fertilized egg successfully travels down the fallopian tube and implants in the uterus, an embryo starts growing.

Ovulation, fertilization, implantation

All the eggs for a woman''s lifetime are stored in her ovaries. Women do not continually produce eggs. This is different from men, who continuously make more sperm.

About once a month, an egg is released Click here to see an illustration. from one of a woman''s two ovaries. This is called ovulation. The egg then enters the nearby fallopian tube that leads to the uterus.

If a woman and a man have unprotected sexual intercourse, sperm that is ejaculated from the man''s penis may reach the egg in the fallopian tube. If one of the sperm cells penetrates the egg, the egg is fertilized and begins developing.

The egg takes several days to travel down the fallopian tube into the uterus. Once in the uterus, a fertilized egg usually attaches to (implants in) the lining of the uterus (endometrium). However, not all fertilized eggs successfully implant. If the egg is not fertilized or does not implant, the woman''s body sheds the egg and the endometrium. This shedding causes the bleeding in a woman''s menstrual period

When a fertilized egg does implant (conception), a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) begins to be produced in the uterus. This is the hormone that a pregnancy test measures. It prevents the uterine lining from being shed, so the woman does not have a period. O
Author: Merrill Hayden Last Updated May 23, 2006
Medical Review: Joy Melnikow, MD, MPH - Family Medicine
Kirtly Jones, MD - Obstetrics and Gynecology

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So if this law passes, it means that if you have an ectopic pregnancy, you must die because your fertilized egg, which implanted in your fallopian tube, has a "right to life" -- even if it kills both itself and you in the process. It means no more IUDs, because IUDs make the uterus inhospitable to fertilized eggs. And it means that if you have a menstrual period, you may be committing murder if you had a fertilized egg that didn't implant -- whether you knew it or not.

So tell me how this law should NOT require government inspection of the products of menstruation?
(h/t)