Question about miscarriages and Roe v. Wdae

[skipos]

If a Republican is elected/selected in 2008, and he appoints anti-choice Supreme Court nominees (as they all threaten to do), and Roe v Wade is overturned… what will happen when women have miscarriages in states that outlaw choice? Is it likely that there be criminal investigations? Will women have to prove that they didn’t have an abortion?

[uppityperson]

1. Only if they caused the miscarriage

spontaneous ones should be ok. sigh

[CT_Progressive]

2. Wouldn't they all be "spontaneous"?

You know, wink wink spontaneous?

[uppityperson]

4. Yup. Did you drink, smoke, not take your vitamins, not do this or that, do this or that

prove you did nothing wrong, that it really was spontaneous. vs: "spontaneous" wink wink nudge nudge

[NMMNG]

17. Won't that open a whole new can of worms

All the RWers who whine about "Liberal nanny state laws" will suddenly begin crying for laws to force pregnant women to eat right, take their pre-natal vitamins, not smoke/drink/take drugs, exercise properly, etc. And those that are found to be out of compliance will be punished, of course, as the fetus is paramount.

[uppityperson]

18. Ah, but you see, it is the Democrat party that wants to raise taxes/control things.

See? It would open a whole new can of worms indeed. Hypocricy is a wonderful thing, eh?

[NMMNG]

21. Hah!

The "Democrat" party wants to control things? They want to control every thing we think, say, do and feel. Then they turn around and claim we're the control freaks. :eyes:

[uppityperson]

22. I'm noticing that with all the

new posters that I must use the sarcasm icon more often. I know, the hypocrisy of the repub/rw is incredible. I had one chant the "we're the party of lower taxes and less gvt involvement" at me recently. I had to laugh at this person, and shake my head. "but but but all the money we're spending now is important!!!"

[CTyankee]

3. I don't recall that everhappening before Roe v. Wade.

But I could be wrong. It seems to me that most women would have sought medical attention at the time of the miscarriage and her doctor could certainly affirm that it was a miscarriage if need be. One would hope that prosecutorial discretion would prevent that from becoming the case, but in some places in this country I wonder!

[kestrel91316]

13. There may come a day when we look back on the pre-Roe days

as not having been so bad, after all...........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Handmaid's_Tale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Reconstructionism
"......Today, Dominionists HIDE THEIR AGENDA AND HAVE RESORTED TO STEALTH; one investigator who has engaged in internet exchanges with people who identify themselves as religious conservatives said, “They cut and run if I mention the word ‘Dominionism.’”
http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm
http://www.theocracywatch.org/dominionism.htm

Dominionists advocate stoning gays and adulterers and defiant children to death. One can imagine the plans they have in store for any woman who wishes to control her own fertility by a method of her own choosing.

[colinmom71]

20. No, it didn't....

In fact even pre-Roe, illegal abortions were usually only caught if the woman had complications and/or obvious damage that required emergent treatment, like severe bleeding from a uterine perforation or cervical laceration or sepsis from infection in the uterus due to unexpelled products of conception, etc. Sometimes, the police were informed by ER staff and had even interfered in the woman receiving health preserving or even life saving medical care until the woman would identify the person who performed the illegal abortion. That kind of state abuse is what was ended when the Roe decision was handed down in 1973 since women then had a declared legal right to seek a medically safe abortion.

Any competent physician, especially an OB/GYN, can tell you that about one quarter of all pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion (miscarriage), usually before the end of the first trimester. If police were called to investigate every miscarriage, we'd have a severely over-extended police force indeed.

[yodermon]

5. nah

i think they'll focus on the abortion doctors moreso than the mothers, at least in terms of direct legal action.

[uppityperson]

6. could you perhaps think about terminology?

"abortion doctors"?

[yodermon]

19. apologies.

I should have used scare-quotes. Didn't mean to perpetuate their framing.

[laconicsax]

7. To the anti-choice crowd

Miscarriages don't exist and if they do, they're so infrequent that they don't matter.

The most recent numbers I've seen have abortions at something around 240 per 1000 live births or about 24%. Similarly, miscarriages can happen at a rate as high as 50% based on age and other factors, with most happening before the mother even knows that she's pregnant.

To acknowledge this, the anti-choicers would have to explain why Jaysus aborts twice as many pregnancies as those evil abortion doctors.

[polichick]

8. I don't think so - many women will hop on planes and go where abortion is legal...

...same as they did before ~ and poorer women will opt for unsafe illegal abortions, same as they did before.

[skipos]

9. That has nothing to do with my question

There have been many women in my family who have had multiple miscarriages. If someone has a miscarriage at home, what happens if someone accuses them of a home abortion? Will the law investigate the accusation? With the woman have to prove she didn't have a miscarriage?

The anti-choice crowd wants people who have abortions thrown in jail, don't they?

On another note, I highly doubt poor people will "hop on planes."

[polichick]

11. You must've missed my edit...

In any case, unless suddenly a lot of doctors are fundamentalist in mentality and practice, I doubt women having miscarriages will be questioned (people know how common "spontaneous abortion" is).


(Hopefully that explains my original answer to your question, which was "I don't think so.")

[kestrel91316]

15. "The anti-choice crowd wants people who have abortions thrown in jail, don't they? "

Uh, no. They want them dead. And the medical providers, too.

Know your enemy. Never underestimate a Dominionist.

[napi21]

10. Naw. Nothing likie that happened BEFORE Roe. The thing that scares me

most if that the back alley coat hanger abortions will return. Lots of those women died!

[Control-Z]

14. Yes, they did.

It seems too long ago for some to really understand the reality of what did happen to women before Roe - and it will happen again.

[yardwork]

12. Let's put it this way - do we trust the same people who passed the Patriot Acts,

suspended the right of habeus corpus, can't decide if waterboarding is torture or not, can't even decide if torture is ok or not - to treat women in good faith?

I don't.

[joshcryer]

16. Roe v. Wade cannot be overturned.

No neocon wants a million women marching on DC. With arms, hopefully.

[gollygee]

23. In El Salvador, they have "Forensic Vagina Inspectors"

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/41365.php

[skipos]

24. That is disturbing.

It seems like most DUers are less worried about this than I am. "They'll NEVER overturn Roe v Wade... yadda yadda yadda."