Info on the Virginia miscarriage proposed law

[roguevalley]

Here's the info a woman who miscarries in Virginia will have to report to the cops in 12 hours if a law there passes:

What’s in the Commonwealth of Virginia Report of Fetal Death?

Virginia Board of Health regulations specify the required information on the Commonwealth of Virginia Report of Fetal Death. Delegate Cosgrove's bill provides for no modification of this form when women report fetal deaths themselves.

The report requires the following items for spontaneous fetal deaths:

* place of occurrence
* usual residence of patient (mother)
* full maiden name of patient
* medical record number and social security number of patient
* Hispanic origin, if any, and race of patient
* age of patient
* education of patient
* sex of fetus
* patient married to father
* previous deliveries to patient
* single or plural delivery and order of plural delivery
* date of delivery
* date of last normal menses and physician's estimate of gestation
* weight of fetus in grams
* month of pregnancy care began (sic)
* number of prenatal visits
* when fetus died
* congenital malformations, if any
* events of labor and delivery
* medical history for this pregnancy
* other history for this pregnancy
* obstetric procedures and method of delivery
* autopsy
* medical certification of cause of spontaneous fetal death
* signature of attending physician or medical examiner including title, address and date signed
method of disposal of fetus
* signature and address of funeral director or hospital representative
* date received by registrar
* registrar's signature
* registration area and report numbers.

Remember, Virginia defines "fetal death" regardless of gestational age, and requires reporting of deaths of all "products of conception". At early gestational age of pregnancy, how are you supposed to get some of this information? Are you supposed to find a kitchen scale and weigh the “products of conception” so you can get a report in grams?

If you don't, its a class one misdemeanor, similar to unage sex between minors, stalking, threatening.

So, Delegate Cosgrove is basically saying that failing to violate your own privacy within 12 hours of a miscarriage is the criminal equivalent of statutory rape, arson, stalking, and other serious crimes.

The authorized punishments for convictions for a Class 1 misdemeanor in Virginia are “confinement in jail for not more than 12 months and a fine of not more than $2500, either or both.”

I am speechless. the link is here:

http://democracyforvirginia.typepad.com/democracy_for_virginia/2005/01/legislative_sen.html

[Warpy]

1. Nah, just mail the soiled sanitary napkin to Cosgrove

let him inspect them for products of conception himself.

[NC_Nurse]

2. That is absurd.

A lot of women miscarry before they even know they are pregnant! Besides, what are they going to do with the information? Are men going to have to start reporting every time they ejaculate?

:wtf:

[Clark2008]

6. What we decided to do on another blog

was get all Virginia women to start calling their local police departments just after they ovulate each month to report "the death."
If enough women in that state do that each and every month - and inconvenience as many freeper males as possible - then this law will stop in short order.

[autorank]

3. The VA Republicans have finally done it. Their ticket back to minority.

The Republicans are in control of the state legislature (both houses) for the first time ever or in a gazillion years. They've done offensive things including an incredible set of anti-gay laws.

Now they've slandered, smeared, and demeaned all Virginia women, not a good thing to do in a state that prides itself (in its best moments) on discretion and keeping the flame on low. These idiots have no knowledge of reproductive processes or rights. They are also proposing a law to terrify women during a time of real trauma. Have they, at long last, no sense of decency?

[NC_Nurse]

4. Apparently not.

Sheesh! :eyes:

[autorank]

5. Really, can you believe this crap. These guys are toast.

Morons, idiots, a pox upon the land. They have just begun. Sen. Brownback, R, KA has a bill to bar any American who receives stem-cell treatment overseas from returning to the United States. They are mad!

[dflprincess]

7. When fetus died?

How are you suppose to know that? It can take days to miscarry after the fetus dies.

[sam sarrha]

8. they keep flushing them here in Tennessee and it causes a firestorm of

media and cost so much for the police to investigate who did it.. one in Jackson was flushed and they arrested the poor girl.. she was just to grossed out to fish it out of the toilet...

they charged her with "Abusing a Fetus"... really..it happens all the time here.

[noamnety]

9. His response to my email

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2917903

[quaoar]

10. From the link

I am delighted to report that Delegate Cosgrove has contacted me directly about HB1677. Delegate Cosgrove has been inundated with calls and emails today in response to the viral spread of this story via the internet, and he is doing his best to respond to them.

He has asked me to share his email with you here, and I do so with thanks to him for his time and thought in composing it (emphasis mine):

Dear Maura:

I am Delegate Cosgrove and I wish to respond to your website and the allegations that have been made by those who have emailed and called my office. The intent of House Bill 1677 is to require the notification of authorities of a delivery of a baby that is dead and the mother has not been attended by a medical professional. This bill was requested by the Chesapeake Police Department in its legislative package due to instances of full term babies who were abandoned shortly after birth. These poor children died horrible deaths. If a coroner could not determine if the child was born alive, the person responsible for abandoning the child could only be charged with is the improper disposal of a human body.

The requirement for the twelve hour notification timeframe comes from the method that a coroner would use to determine if the child had been born alive or dead. After twelve hours, it becomes next to impossible to determine if the child was alive due to decomposition gasses that build up in the body.

My bill in no way intends that a woman who suffers a miscarriage should be charged for not notifying authorities. The bill in no way mentions miscarriages, only deliveries. However, after discussing the bill again with our legislative services lawyers, I have decided to include language that will define the bill to apply only to those babies that are claimed to have been stillborn and that are abandoned as stated above.

I would never inflict the type of emotional torture on a woman who has suffered such a traumatic event as a miscarriage by making her notify authorities of her loss. I would also never impose criminal sanctions on a woman who has gone through this loss. And I am confident that the General Assembly of Virginia would also not pass such a terrible imposition on a woman. My mother experienced several miscarriages and I have other friends who have been devastated by losing their children through miscarriages.

On a final note, your website advocates the use of emailing comments to my office. As for the emails that I have received, I have answered a few and will forward a similar explanation to those who sent them. I always seek to receive emails that express a point of view either in support or in opposition to an issue. The majority of emails I have received from this site, however, have been extremely abusive, condescending, and mean-spirited. That is never the way to communicate with another person and I hope that civil discourse would be your desire as well.

I hope that you will post this explanation on your website and understand the original intent of this bill. If you feel the need to discuss this matter more fully, please do not hesitate to call. Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,

John A. Cosgrove

[noamnety]

11. abusive, condescending and meanspirited

I think he just described his bill!