H.R. 552
Now, this--H.R.552--is asshattery on a spectacular level:
A bill proposed to extend all protections of the Fourteenth Amendment to the 'preborn' from the moment of conception.
Go on. Click the links. I'll wait.
The implications of this are staggering. If a fertilised zygote has the same rights of citizenship that an adult American does, then clearly not only abortion but contraceptives--such the "morning after pill" or IUDs or diaphragms could be construed as murder/manslaughter, because they prevent birth.
And it's not as if a little bell goes off next to a woman's ear when conception takes place. So it would be possible for a woman to take a contraceptive--or to do something potentially hazardous to the fetus, such as smoking or drinking--thus doing something potentially damaging or life-threatening to a microscopic, fertilised zygote...that nevertheless has full rights as an American citizen under law.
Can you picture anyone bringing a test case of voluntary manslaughte against a woman who took a "morning after pill"?
Can you envision a woman being charged with child abuse for smoking while pregnant?
Think something like that couldn't happen? Newsflash. It already has. Here's the story, from TalkLeft:
SEPTEMBER 09, 2004--A 27-year-old Oklahoma woman has been charged with first-degree murder after doctors said the woman's illegal drug use caused her baby to be stillborn, prosecutors said on Thursday. It is the first time the state has charged a woman with first-degree murder for using illegal drugs that are suspected of killing the fetus she carried, Oklahoma County prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they filed first-degree murder charges against Theresa Hernandez late on Wednesday. Police arrested Hernandez after she gave birth to a dead boy at an Oklahoma City hospital in April. A doctor attending the birth told police the mother and baby tested positive for methamphetamine and ruled the death a homicide. Doctors told police the baby had enough methamphetamine in his system to kill two adults.
Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane said: "We've been wanting to do this with a number of people. This has been needing to happen for a long time."
Question--if the baby had enough meth in his system to kill two adults, how come Theresa Hernandez was still alive?
Hernandez isn't the first woman to experience this, either. The same thing happened to Regina McKnight of South Carolina, whose daughter Mercedes was stillborn after McKnight used cocaine. McKnight became the first woman in America convicted for murder by using cocaine while pregnant.
By the way, South Carolina couldn't produce any evidence proving that the cocaine use had caused the stillbirth. Nor did they prove that she had any intent to harm the child. So no motive. And unproven means.
But that didn't matter. She was convicted.
And, according to McKnight's attorney, "All over the United States, approximately 275 women have already faced charges relating to drug use during their pregnancies."
And now comes this lovely little bill. Which grants full rights of American citizenship to all of the "preborn" FROM THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION. A moment which is damned hard to ascertain, even for physicians and scientists. A bill which effectively strips all pregnant women--and all women who MIGHT be pregnant, and who therefore MIGHT endanger possible offspring--of any control of their own bodies.
Oh, and of the thirty-six representatives sponsoring this bill, thirty-three are men.
The whole mess is rather like a live performance of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.
Which is exactly what makes this horrifying.
A bill proposed to extend all protections of the Fourteenth Amendment to the 'preborn' from the moment of conception.
Go on. Click the links. I'll wait.
The implications of this are staggering. If a fertilised zygote has the same rights of citizenship that an adult American does, then clearly not only abortion but contraceptives--such the "morning after pill" or IUDs or diaphragms could be construed as murder/manslaughter, because they prevent birth.
And it's not as if a little bell goes off next to a woman's ear when conception takes place. So it would be possible for a woman to take a contraceptive--or to do something potentially hazardous to the fetus, such as smoking or drinking--thus doing something potentially damaging or life-threatening to a microscopic, fertilised zygote...that nevertheless has full rights as an American citizen under law.
Can you picture anyone bringing a test case of voluntary manslaughte against a woman who took a "morning after pill"?
Can you envision a woman being charged with child abuse for smoking while pregnant?
Think something like that couldn't happen? Newsflash. It already has. Here's the story, from TalkLeft:
SEPTEMBER 09, 2004--A 27-year-old Oklahoma woman has been charged with first-degree murder after doctors said the woman's illegal drug use caused her baby to be stillborn, prosecutors said on Thursday. It is the first time the state has charged a woman with first-degree murder for using illegal drugs that are suspected of killing the fetus she carried, Oklahoma County prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they filed first-degree murder charges against Theresa Hernandez late on Wednesday. Police arrested Hernandez after she gave birth to a dead boy at an Oklahoma City hospital in April. A doctor attending the birth told police the mother and baby tested positive for methamphetamine and ruled the death a homicide. Doctors told police the baby had enough methamphetamine in his system to kill two adults.
Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane said: "We've been wanting to do this with a number of people. This has been needing to happen for a long time."
Question--if the baby had enough meth in his system to kill two adults, how come Theresa Hernandez was still alive?
Hernandez isn't the first woman to experience this, either. The same thing happened to Regina McKnight of South Carolina, whose daughter Mercedes was stillborn after McKnight used cocaine. McKnight became the first woman in America convicted for murder by using cocaine while pregnant.
By the way, South Carolina couldn't produce any evidence proving that the cocaine use had caused the stillbirth. Nor did they prove that she had any intent to harm the child. So no motive. And unproven means.
But that didn't matter. She was convicted.
And, according to McKnight's attorney, "All over the United States, approximately 275 women have already faced charges relating to drug use during their pregnancies."
And now comes this lovely little bill. Which grants full rights of American citizenship to all of the "preborn" FROM THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION. A moment which is damned hard to ascertain, even for physicians and scientists. A bill which effectively strips all pregnant women--and all women who MIGHT be pregnant, and who therefore MIGHT endanger possible offspring--of any control of their own bodies.
Oh, and of the thirty-six representatives sponsoring this bill, thirty-three are men.
The whole mess is rather like a live performance of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.
Which is exactly what makes this horrifying.