Miscarriages To Considered "prenatal Murder?"

[kujo]

[quote]A Georgia state representative has reintroduced an anti-abortion bill that would make miscarriages a felony if the mother cannot prove there was no "human involvement."

The legislation from Rep. Bobby Franklin, a Republican, would make all abortions, described as "prenatal murder," illegal based on the belief that all life begins at conception. The bill's definition of "prenatal murder" excludes miscarriages "so long as there is no human involvement whatsoever" in causing them. Anyone convicted would face the death penalty or life behind bars.

Miscarriages, defined as pregnancies that end on their own within the first 20 weeks, are quite common. As many as 40 percent of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, often before a woman misses a menstrual period or even knows she is pregnant, according to the March of Dimes. About 10 to 15 percent of recognized pregnancies end in a miscarriage, the group found.

It is still unclear what causes miscarriages, but in most cases, it is a sign that the pregnancy is not developing normally.
Franklin's legislation does not clarify what defines human involvement or how this would be enforced.

Franklin did not return a message seeking comment. His voicemail greeting thanks callers for "calling to give me encouragement about sponsorship of HB 1 that recognizes prenatal murder is murder. I'm not able to take that encouragement right now."

His office told FoxNews.com that the "right-to-life" bill is "not as stab at people who miscarriages." Franklin has introduced the bill each session since 2002 but it has never made it out of committee, his office said, adding that it likely never will.

But Franklin's legislation still prompted outrage among women's advocates.

"These proposals do nothing to prevent unintended pregnancies and abortions," Leola Reis, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Southeast, said in an e-mail to FoxNews.com. "Lawmakers who truly care about women and families should work with Planned Parenthood to increase access to proven prevention initiatives like birth control and sex education."

"This type of initiative in Georgia and the recent attacks on publicly funded contraceptive programs nationally are out of step with the needs of women and families and out of step with American values," she added[/quote]

Source: [url="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/26/georgia-lawmakers-anti-abortion-proposal-punish-women-miscarriages/#ixzz1F6m8w8Ab"]FoxNews.com[/url]

Okay, I agree with the classification of abortion as "prenatal murder." But forcing women to prove that their miscarriages were "natural" or didn't occur via some nefarious human interaction to avoid some sort of penalty? That's ridiculous!

[Winchester]

Sounds expensive.

[havok579257]

i saw this article a few days ago and concluded this is one of the stupidest things the government is trying to do... EVER!


My wife and I have had 2 miscarriges and if someone came to us and wanted proof we didn't kill our babies, I would kick them in the groin so hard they could never have children. this is the worst thing to do to couples who have just lost a child, accuse them of murder.


all this does is strengthen support for planned parenthood abortion ilk.

[CatherineM]

Miscarriages are hard enough without having to answer police questions.

[MIKolbe]

[quote]A Georgia state representative has reintroduced an anti-abortion bill that would make miscarriages a felony if the mother cannot prove there was no "human involvement."[/quote]

how do you prove a negative?

[Ed Normile]

I seen a case in Ohio a few years back where a woman cuased a miscarriage by drinking booze and smoking both pot and cigarettes excessively, they tried her and I beleive convicted her stating that she had been to pregnancy classes after being arrested for pot while in the early stages of her pregnancy and counseled on the potential harm to the baby. I also have seen several cases where men have been convicted for beating up their girlfriends and causing a miscarriage, at least three I know of intentionally punched the women in the stomach repeatedly to try and kill the child they did not want. I doubt the law in Ga. is for anything else besides cases like these. The fact is unless the law is on the books it can not be enforced.

ed

[MithLuin]

We've already got the Unborn Victims of Violence Act to make the murder of a pregnant woman a double homicide.

If we wanted to criminalize a violent attack, there are ways of doing that without this proposed law.

My guess is it's the type of law that has no chance of passing, but allows this politician to go back to his constituents and say 'I tried to end abortion in this state!'