Roundup: "Modeling" Legislation to Control Your Body

Roundup: “Modeling” Legislation to Control Your Body

Mar 12, 2010, 10:47am

Utah's fetal homicide bill as potential model legislation, and a game that will kill tons of free time at work today -- guide the sperm!

Not only has the Utah Criminal Homicide and Abortion Revisions bill been signed into law, but the bill’s author is happily putting his knowledge and experience together to create a model bill that can be shopped to other states. Simply by removing the term “reckless” from the law, Rep. Carl Wimmer believes he has a winning piece of legislation that anti-choice legislators across the country will scramble eagerly to introduce in their own jurisdictions. But what exactly is it that they will be proposing?

Deseret News explains:

An abortion bill that critics regard as Utah attempting to make a right out of two wrongs was approved this session and has already been signed by Gov. Gary Herbert, who called for and got an amendment first.

HB462 makes seeking an illegal abortion by a pregnant woman tantamount to criminal homicide. The bill has been criticized by bloggers nationwide as a tragic response to a tragic situation, and the measure puts any pregnant woman who might accidentally cause a spontaneous abortion at risk of being prosecuted for murder.

Herbert vetoed an earlier version of the bill, HB12, but signed HB462 after language was added that would exempt accidental miscarriages.

The substitute measure has sharpened criticism by pro-choice groups who claim Utah’s overzealousness regarding abortion still puts any woman who might harm a fetus while hiking or who is at fault in an auto or other accident at risk for criminal prosecution.

The question is, does simply removing the term “reckless” do anything? What about some other scenarios that could endanger a pregnancy?

The implications of the new law could be enormous. If a pregnant woman is directed by her doctor to stay off her feet – but must keep her job as a crossing guard to feed her family – could she be charged under the new law if she has a miscarriage? What about a woman who doesn’t know she’s pregnant but runs a marathon and then suffers a miscarriage? The penalties for breaking the law are high and how/when/who would be charged are open to interpretation. But no one is addressing why a woman would intentionally or knowingly cause her own miscarriage. What desperation would drive a woman to do such a thing? And who would decide whether the act was intentional?

Of course, not having access to an abortion, since the teenager was underaged, is what caused her to seek out a “criminal” miscarriage in the first place. That fact doesn’t daunt Wimmer at all, who, in a very candid interview with Alternet admits his final intent is to overturn Roe V Wade and outlaw abortion all together in Utah.

RA: What is your ultimate goal? Do you want to make abortion illegal?

CW: The goal is to overturn Roe v. Wade, which would allow states more authority to make a decision on abortion. We toy around the edges on this issue because we’re mandated to allow it by the federal government. The overturning of Roe is a definite goal. I don’t know if this will happen in my lifetime, but I won’t stop trying.

RA: Will you ever try to overturn abortion in Utah?

CW: Yes, but there would have to be the appropriate make-up of the court in order to even try to do that. I’m not sure the make-up of the [U.S.] Supreme Court is there or not. It would depend on where [Justice Anthony] Kennedy was. I also want to say something else. I get hammered because I’m a man and I’m running these bills. It’s important to note that the vast majority of the women in the legislature voted for my bill. I have a female sponsor in the senate. She was the sponsor in the senate. In fact, the majority of Democrats voted for this bill. It’s not necessarily a right-wing ideological issue. It’s something that pragmatists can come together on.

RA: Let’s say you get your way. Abortion is illegal or almost impossible to come by in many countries and they have huge mortality rates. Every year, 19 million women and girls have unsafe abortions. Nearly 70,000 die. If a woman doesn’t want to be pregnant, she’ll do whatever it takes to end the pregnancy.

CW: That wouldn’t happen. Very simply put, overturning Roe would give states more authority — states like Utah or any of the southern states that don’t want the federal government forcing them to abort unborn children. If a woman wants an abortion, there would be sources and plenty of states that would still allow it. It’s a key state sovereignty issue. Overturning Roe does not outlaw abortion. It gives states back the authority to make that decision. States that allow abortion such as New York or California would still function just like they do now. It would allow states like Utah to restrict it more than we can right now.

Note, when the interviewer asks him what would happen to a woman who wants to end her pregnancy at all costs regardless of whether it is illegal or dangerous, his answer is simply “That wouldn’t happen.”

If only it were that easy.

Friday Fun! Quite possibly, the best show promo EVER! Now if only I could stop killing my sperm.

March 11, 2010

Christian Groups Make Last-Ditch Health Care Lobbying Push – Charisma News Online

Just where is Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Mich., on the health care bill? – Washington Examiner (blog)

Barack Obama’s abortion drama – Economist

Five New Specialty Plates Considered – WSET

“Trust Women”? Not in Virginia – Daily Press

Floyd defends use of amendments – Louisville Courier-Journal

Anti-Choice ConservaDems Hold Health Reform Hostage – AlterNet

The Abortion Debate Continues: Thank Hoberman and His Minions – New York Press

‘Not Our Kind’: Responding to the Black anti-abortion Movement – The Indypendent