Big Rob wrote:
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Haliburton don't do windmills, but if they did they'd probably be the greatest windmills in the world. I've been thinking about the miscarriage legislation quite a bit over the last couple of days. It's still as disgusting as it was when I first read that, but what's become even more obvious is how utterly insane a law it is to enforce. Even taking the "soft" option of imposing fines, rather than custodial sentences, it makes absolutely no sense.
The law obviously relies on the belief that life begins at contraception, which however you feel about it, is an issue that can be debated until the end of days. Ergo, to abort or in this case to involuntarily lose an unborn child is, in the eyes of the court, murder. It doesn't need explaining how morally confused this is (except maybe to the stone age Abrahamic sister-fucking pondlife hick that came up with it). Effectively, by imposing a fine on these women, they are to some extent legitimising "murder". This surely flies in the face of the whole idea behind the law, and runs contrary to the religious and political ideals of the people who supported this. It seems to me such leniency, if you can call it that, for such a heinous crime (again, if you can call it that) is visible proof that they know exactly how illogical this is, and can't really justify it on any level.
If they want to go the other way and use the full extent of the penal code, where does it end? I've already posted that Alabama law states the murder of a minor carries the death penalty, and though I'm willing to be shown evidence this wouldn't apply, life imprisonment isn't much better is it?
Do a quick google search on miscarriage rates in the US, the first hit tells us that:
There are about 4.4 million confirmed pregnancies in the U.S. every year.
900,000 to 1 million of those end in pregnancy losses EVERY year.
More than 500,000 pregnancies each year end in miscarriage (occurring during the first 20 weeks).
Approximately 26,000 end in stillbirth (considered stillbirth after 20 weeks)
Approximately 19,000 end in infant death during the first month.
Approximately 39,000 end in infant death during the first year.
Approximately 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage; some estimates are as high as 1 in 3. If you include loss that occurs before a positive pregnancy test, some estimate that 40% of all conceptions result in loss.
Approximately 75% of all miscarriages occur in the first trimester.
An estimated 80% of all miscarriages are single miscarriages. The vast majority of women suffering one miscarriage can expect to have a normal pregnancy next time.
An estimated 19% of the adult population has experienced the death of a child (this includes miscarriages through adult-aged children
What are they going to do? Imprison a million women a year? Execute the ones who they can prove may have initiated the miscarriage through drink and drugs? An over-zealous prosecutor and a handful of cases from an area with other social issues could keep death row full to the brim indefinitely. They can make the argument that this is God's punishment on them for past misadventures, but what happens to the atheists? I know there aren't many, but they do exist. And what happens when a Senator/Governor or their wife is unfortunate enough to suffer from a miscarriage? Reckon they'll face the same level of vitriol?
Fucking loons. Professional loons, who by all accounts, probably graduated in Law to get in a position to pass them.
I despair.
EDIT: not really paying attention through lack of sleep. Those statistics are for the US in it's entirety rather than the state in question, but I feel the point still stands.
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