Post by Moses on Jan 8, 2005 19:37:23 GMT -5
democracyforvirginia.typepad.com/democracy_for_virginia/2005/01/legislative_sen.html
Imagine the following scenario.
You are at home alone at 8:00 on a Friday night. You are 8 weeks pregnant. You are excited about the pregnancy, but being cautious, you havenít told anyone about it yet except your partner, your best friend, your parents, and your doctor.
All of a sudden, you begin to experience heavy cramping. Bleeding ensues. You realize with shock and sadness that you are probably experiencing a miscarriage. You leave a message with your doctorís service. The on-call doctor calls back, offers sympathies, and advises taking pain medication or going to the hospital if the bleeding gets worse. She offers you the next available appointment for a follow-up exam - Monday at 3PM. You accept. You are overwhelmed with grief and surprised by the intensity of physical pain involved. You call your partner and ask him to come home from his ìboys night outî, sparing him the reason over the phone. You call your best friend. She offers to come over immediately and make you cocoa. You cry.
You decide not to tell your parents yet; let them sleep through the night before delivering the terrible news. Your partner comes home and you break the sad news to him. He holds you on the couch and you both cry together. Your best friend comes over with cocoa. You cry some more. Over the next few hours, you suffer pain, cramping, and intermittent bleeding. Exhausted, you finally fall asleep in your partnerís arms around 4 AM. You sleep until noon, and then gird yourself for the difficult call to your parents, who were so eagerly anticipating their first grandchild.
Guess what? You just earned yourself up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine. Why? Because you failed to call the cops and report your miscarriage within 12 hours.
True? Not yet. But if Delegate John Cosgrove (R-78) has his way, HB1677 will become law in a few short months, and this scenario will be reality for many women in Virginia.
Incredulous? Outraged? Read on below the jump for more information on this odious bill.
HB1677, ìReport of Fetal Death by mother, penaltyî<br>
It sounds preposterous to talk about criminalizing women who suffer miscarriages, but one Virginia legislator is proposing just that. HB1677, ìReport of Fetal Death by mother, penaltyî is a bill introduced by John A. Cosgrove (R) of Chesapeake. Cosgroveís bill requires any woman who experiences ìfetal deathî without a doctorís assistance to report this to the local law-enforcement agency within twelve hours of the miscarriage. Failure to do so is punishable as a Class 1 Misdemeanor.
Background: Reporting of Fetal Deaths
Almost all states mandate reporting of fetal deaths to vital statistics bureaus. These statistics are then collected nationally by the CDC. In most states, health care providers must provide statistics on fetal deaths after 20 weeks gestation (or at a certain fetal weight approximating 20 weeks gestation). Virginia is one of only 7 states, however, that mandate the reporting of deaths of all ìproducts of conceptionî regardless of gestational age. This includes both spontaneous losses of pregnancy and induced terminations of pregnancy, though the required data fields are different for abortions.
In Virginia, all losses of pregnancy must be reported by health care providers according to current law. The reality, though, is that countless women experience spontaneous abortions in the first few gestational weeks without even being aware of pregnancy, so not all pregnancies of early gestational age are reported. Women who experience miscarriages at home without a doctorís care may not even think to inform their doctors, especially if the pregnancy is so early that they have not yet even sought prenatal care. Until this bill, though, no one has suggested it was in the interest of the Commonwealth of Virginia to track down these unreported losses of "products of conception".
The Bill: text
When a fetal death occurs without medical attendance, it shall be the woman's responsibility to report the death to the law-enforcement agency in the jurisdiction of which the delivery occurs within 12 hours after the delivery. A violation of this section shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
The Bill: The Most Odious Infringement on the Privacy of Virginia women...ever
Delegate Cosgroveís bill is an outrageous attack on the privacy of Virginia women. Consider this - there is no law mandating that a woman must report a pregnancy to the Commonwealth, or even seek medical treatment for one. But this bill proposes that a woman report a LOSS of a pregnancy to the Commonwealth, whatever the gestational age of the embryo/fetus.
Furthermore, this bill means that a woman who experiences a spontaneous loss of pregnancy will have her privacy violated significantly more than if she had chosen an abortion. Though Virginia requires that induced terminations of pregnancy be reported, those reporting forms require only a ìpatient numberî and information on the procedure. The ìreport of fetal deathî asks for the womanís full name, her history of prenatal care, her marital status, her education history, her previous deliveries (if any), and a number of other very intrusive data items.
If the miscarriage occurred under a physicianís care, all of this information would be provided by the physician out of the patientís medical records. Physicians and/or funeral directors are given 24 hours to file this report. Delegate Cosgroveís bill gives women who experience miscarriage without a doctor only 12 hours to report, adding insult to injury.
Practical concerns: an affront to decency
Returning to our original scenario, letís imagine that this bill becomes law. Will the average woman in Virginia who experiences spontaneous loss of pregnancy at home know that she is risking a year in jail if she doesn't report it? (The practical considerations for publicizing such a law are enormous - a Class 1 misdemeanor is a serious crime in Virginia - will the health department create TV ads to inform women of this new law?)
But letís assume, against all probability, that you are aware that there is a law requiring you to report it.
At what point during your first 12 hours of grief at the loss of this pregnancy do you make time to call the cops to report it? Letís say you finally pull yourself together after your partner and best friend arrive to comfort you. You pick up the phone at midnight and call your local police non-emergency number. What do you say? ìHello? Um. Iíd like to report that I just had a miscarriage?î<br>
What then? Does the officer on the other end of the phone have a Commonwealth of Virginia Report of Fetal Death form right in front of him or her? Does a squad car with flashing lights arrive at your house to investigate? Is the officer who responds trained to handle your case compassionately and kindly? Let's consider what information you would be required to provide when you comply with the law.
(see next)
Imagine the following scenario.
You are at home alone at 8:00 on a Friday night. You are 8 weeks pregnant. You are excited about the pregnancy, but being cautious, you havenít told anyone about it yet except your partner, your best friend, your parents, and your doctor.
All of a sudden, you begin to experience heavy cramping. Bleeding ensues. You realize with shock and sadness that you are probably experiencing a miscarriage. You leave a message with your doctorís service. The on-call doctor calls back, offers sympathies, and advises taking pain medication or going to the hospital if the bleeding gets worse. She offers you the next available appointment for a follow-up exam - Monday at 3PM. You accept. You are overwhelmed with grief and surprised by the intensity of physical pain involved. You call your partner and ask him to come home from his ìboys night outî, sparing him the reason over the phone. You call your best friend. She offers to come over immediately and make you cocoa. You cry.
You decide not to tell your parents yet; let them sleep through the night before delivering the terrible news. Your partner comes home and you break the sad news to him. He holds you on the couch and you both cry together. Your best friend comes over with cocoa. You cry some more. Over the next few hours, you suffer pain, cramping, and intermittent bleeding. Exhausted, you finally fall asleep in your partnerís arms around 4 AM. You sleep until noon, and then gird yourself for the difficult call to your parents, who were so eagerly anticipating their first grandchild.
Guess what? You just earned yourself up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine. Why? Because you failed to call the cops and report your miscarriage within 12 hours.
True? Not yet. But if Delegate John Cosgrove (R-78) has his way, HB1677 will become law in a few short months, and this scenario will be reality for many women in Virginia.
Incredulous? Outraged? Read on below the jump for more information on this odious bill.
HB1677, ìReport of Fetal Death by mother, penaltyî<br>
It sounds preposterous to talk about criminalizing women who suffer miscarriages, but one Virginia legislator is proposing just that. HB1677, ìReport of Fetal Death by mother, penaltyî is a bill introduced by John A. Cosgrove (R) of Chesapeake. Cosgroveís bill requires any woman who experiences ìfetal deathî without a doctorís assistance to report this to the local law-enforcement agency within twelve hours of the miscarriage. Failure to do so is punishable as a Class 1 Misdemeanor.
Background: Reporting of Fetal Deaths
Almost all states mandate reporting of fetal deaths to vital statistics bureaus. These statistics are then collected nationally by the CDC. In most states, health care providers must provide statistics on fetal deaths after 20 weeks gestation (or at a certain fetal weight approximating 20 weeks gestation). Virginia is one of only 7 states, however, that mandate the reporting of deaths of all ìproducts of conceptionî regardless of gestational age. This includes both spontaneous losses of pregnancy and induced terminations of pregnancy, though the required data fields are different for abortions.
In Virginia, all losses of pregnancy must be reported by health care providers according to current law. The reality, though, is that countless women experience spontaneous abortions in the first few gestational weeks without even being aware of pregnancy, so not all pregnancies of early gestational age are reported. Women who experience miscarriages at home without a doctorís care may not even think to inform their doctors, especially if the pregnancy is so early that they have not yet even sought prenatal care. Until this bill, though, no one has suggested it was in the interest of the Commonwealth of Virginia to track down these unreported losses of "products of conception".
The Bill: text
When a fetal death occurs without medical attendance, it shall be the woman's responsibility to report the death to the law-enforcement agency in the jurisdiction of which the delivery occurs within 12 hours after the delivery. A violation of this section shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
The Bill: The Most Odious Infringement on the Privacy of Virginia women...ever
Delegate Cosgroveís bill is an outrageous attack on the privacy of Virginia women. Consider this - there is no law mandating that a woman must report a pregnancy to the Commonwealth, or even seek medical treatment for one. But this bill proposes that a woman report a LOSS of a pregnancy to the Commonwealth, whatever the gestational age of the embryo/fetus.
Furthermore, this bill means that a woman who experiences a spontaneous loss of pregnancy will have her privacy violated significantly more than if she had chosen an abortion. Though Virginia requires that induced terminations of pregnancy be reported, those reporting forms require only a ìpatient numberî and information on the procedure. The ìreport of fetal deathî asks for the womanís full name, her history of prenatal care, her marital status, her education history, her previous deliveries (if any), and a number of other very intrusive data items.
If the miscarriage occurred under a physicianís care, all of this information would be provided by the physician out of the patientís medical records. Physicians and/or funeral directors are given 24 hours to file this report. Delegate Cosgroveís bill gives women who experience miscarriage without a doctor only 12 hours to report, adding insult to injury.
Practical concerns: an affront to decency
Returning to our original scenario, letís imagine that this bill becomes law. Will the average woman in Virginia who experiences spontaneous loss of pregnancy at home know that she is risking a year in jail if she doesn't report it? (The practical considerations for publicizing such a law are enormous - a Class 1 misdemeanor is a serious crime in Virginia - will the health department create TV ads to inform women of this new law?)
But letís assume, against all probability, that you are aware that there is a law requiring you to report it.
At what point during your first 12 hours of grief at the loss of this pregnancy do you make time to call the cops to report it? Letís say you finally pull yourself together after your partner and best friend arrive to comfort you. You pick up the phone at midnight and call your local police non-emergency number. What do you say? ìHello? Um. Iíd like to report that I just had a miscarriage?î<br>
What then? Does the officer on the other end of the phone have a Commonwealth of Virginia Report of Fetal Death form right in front of him or her? Does a squad car with flashing lights arrive at your house to investigate? Is the officer who responds trained to handle your case compassionately and kindly? Let's consider what information you would be required to provide when you comply with the law.
(see next)