I really *really* have not been exaggerating this stuff. And here's proof. Unfortunately.
Here's the thing: I read a good four or five newspapers every morning. (Online) In addition to the Dallas Morning News, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the BBC and the Salt Lake Tribune, I also check up on AP, NPR and Huffington Post throughout the day. I like to think I'm moderately informed on stuff happening in the world. Please notice that I said I read the SL Tribune.
Yesterday, after switching through four news channels to make sure I caught all of the health care summit, I got an email from my sister, who linked me to this article in Jezebel. This morning I got another link from entrenous88 to Reality Check's article about the same thing. For those that don't want to click yet, here's the summation from those two sites: Utah is passing a bill that will CRIMINALIZE MISCARRIAGE. AS IN, FIRST TRIMESTER MISCARRIAGE. [The Actual bill here.]
And, while you softly beat your head on the wall, about 20% of ALL pregnancies end in miscarriage, so what are they playing at? Oh, you see, it's not just any ol' miscarriage, it's only those that look SUSPICIOUS. Those that seem a little hinky. Those that kind of feel like a woman was doing something reckless in order to "naturally" abort, because THAT my friends, is an ILLEGAL ABORTION in the state of Utah. It's those that were maybe caused by a man BEATING A PREGNANT WOMAN UNTIL SHE MISCARRIES. Who's criminalized in that case? THE WOMAN. But hey, she'd be criminalized in ALL the cases, not the person that helped, that causes the end result, not them. The potential mother is penalized.
WHAT ON EARTH.
Now, this isn't official law yet, because the governor's signature is still needed. Which means that the state house and senate thumbs up'd this already. How on earth did this pass me by? I read their main paper EVERY MORNING. Oh, here's how. The SL Tribune, which is "liberal" (the Deseret News is the Mormon-owned/themed paper) just talked about an "illegal abortion" law that was moving through the houses. Illegal abortion, you know, the clothes hangar in the dark alleyway, the mouthful of gun powder swallowed before you jump off the top of your fridge, the fall onto your stomach, all of the old things women were forced to do because a baby was being forced onto them, because we women had NO CHOICE.
There is NO distinction for women who are being abused. There is NO distinction for women with a substance abuse problem who may not even know they are pregnant. And for the real kicker, there is no distinction for those women who might not have their seatbelt on and get hit in an accident and lose their baby as a result. Even if that woman WANTED to have the baby, and for whatever reason, ran to the end of the street in her car, someone broadsides her, and she loses the baby. She's now responsible for a criminal homicide. A woman in Iowa was prosecuted under a similar law for falling down the stairs - people claimed she was trying to lose her baby.
You know, for all the lip service the right gives to "less regulation" and "stop growing the government," this sure as hell looks like an intrusive government trying to create more regulation and growing the government's role in a person's life. I don't care how you feel about abortion, THIS IS WRONG.
First of all, abortion is legal, even though Utah has done all they can to make it nearly impossible for women to have access to them. It is NOT your business what a woman chooses to do. You have not walked in her shoes, you have not lived her life, you do not get to make her choices for her. Do we all wish that people didn't NEED abortions? Of course. Better access to health, to education, the ability to freely live a life that doesn't pin you in, we want that for everyone. But life is messy, in case you didn't know. YOU (general you) have no say in a woman's future of being a mother. You don't. If she doesn't want a baby, she shouldn't be forced to raise a baby. In an ideal world, that situation wouldn't arise, but we don't live in an ideal world. Your religious beliefs are YOURS. It is completely unAmerican for you to force YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS on another person, and then criminalize them for not practicing your belief system.
This is yet another example of how women are nothing but brood mares for the men in power in the state of Utah. They lie when they say women are equal. They like to use a "separate but equal" definition, but that is clearly wrong. Women are objects, women have no say, and women have no power but through the health of their uterus.
In case you always wondered why I was "so angry" about having been Mormon or having lived in Utah, for those who derided me for "wasting my time complaining" about that state, I HOPE THIS MAKES IT CLEAR WHY I "WASTE MY ENERGY." This is abuse of male power, pure and simple. And to any Mormon, legislative or citizen, that might be reading this, I would remind you that even your own prophet, ironically the one that was the most abusive, claimed this to be the word of God:
"...but when we undertake [...] to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves, the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.
"... it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion." D&C 121: 34-40.
They smile at you with a countenance full of "love and humility" but that's just to distract you from the lasso they're sneaking around your neck.
SHAME ON YOU, UTAH. "The Handmaid's Tale" was not a How To book.
HERE IS A LETTER THE ACLU OF UTAH HAS WRITTEN TO THE GOVERNOR. The address to write your own letter is at the top. I highly recommend all of you who lean towards upholding the Constitution of the United States of America write in. I highly recommend that all of you that believe we are actually a Free Society to write in. I highly recommend that all of you that believe that a woman has a Lawful Right to be in control of her body to write in. Be respectful, be concise, and be up front: this is a travesty. This is unrighteous dominion. Use the language of their religion to shame them, because that's what they deserve for this hateful piece of backwards legislature.
And I hate to say "I told you so" about that state - in this respect, at least. I am cross-posting this to my book journal, 0hmyheck, and please feel free to link to this, to email this, to repost this. The more people stand up to these bullies, the better off the poor women of Utah will be. (And to ivyfree who didn't buy my sympathy for the forced choices of the female characters on Big Love? THIS IS WHY. Women don't REALLY have choice in that state. It's a choice between a rock and a hard place.)
And please note that the new bill that will make Utah-made guns EXEMPT FROM FEDERAL LAW is getting more discussion from male leadership. A pox on all your houses, Utah.