The world we live in is changing rapidly.
And not for the better.
One would think that with the technological advancements and scientific break-throughs we have seen in the last decade, that life would be improving for most of us on many fronts.
But, not for women in America.
I no longer live in the States because of things of this very nature, but the news I've read this week signals an all time high of stupidity and it's bothering me.
IMMENSELY.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/24/america-pregnant-women-murder-charges
There is a comment in the article about how contradictory it is for abortion to be legal, but the unintentional termination of a pregnancy is somehow murder. It's just absurd.
So, now women are to be held accountable for the outcome of their pregnancies. This sets such a dangerous precedent, and it is a contortion of the law in the first place. The law they are bending to bring charges against these women was meant to protect the pregnant woman and unborn child from attack by third parties, not to maliciously prosecute the pregnant women themselves
.
I first read about something of this nature on the ACLU's website:
http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform-reproductive-freedom-womens-rights/pregnant-women-need-health-care-not-jail
A prosecutor in Alabama has similarly contorted a law meant to protect children whose parents were operating meth labs in their homes to extend to pregnant mothers with addiction issues. Some 40 women have been charged with chemical endangerment of a child simply for being addicted during a pregnancy.
This poses a host of ills that these witch hunters can't be taking into consideration.
For starters, the abortion rate will no doubt sky-rocket amongst addicts. For people who claim to be pro-life, implementing policies that will only serve to increase the incidence of the very thing they seek to prevent, it's just madness.
And here again, if they are concerned with the well-being of children, seeing to it that addicted mothers shy away from much needed health care can't be doing a service to their cause.
I could go on, but it isn't really necessary.
It's clear to any reasonable human being that this is a political agenda, not an outcome motivated initiative seeking to protect the rights or quality of life of anyone, mother or child.
Is there no limit to the insanity of right wing conservatives?
How long before fertility is regulated? How long before the state will come around to collect your newborn, as a matter of course, until you establish that you can care for it?
And furthermore, when addicted mothers never bother to go to their doctors, how does the state propose to track down those who are addicts?
It could be like the immigration profiling in Alabama, where if a cop sees a brown person, they can demand proof of citizenship or visa on the spot. This would mean that any woman who is pregnant could potentially be drug screened, with the "probable cause" being her swollen abdomen.
This will also invariably increase the number of unreported home births, and thereby a horrendous increase in the maternal/infant mortality rate. Alabama and other states who are following this assault on human rights will have pushed their statistics right up there with that of the third world.
And the advancement of the rights of women, straight back to the Victorian era.
And not for the better.
One would think that with the technological advancements and scientific break-throughs we have seen in the last decade, that life would be improving for most of us on many fronts.
But, not for women in America.
I no longer live in the States because of things of this very nature, but the news I've read this week signals an all time high of stupidity and it's bothering me.
IMMENSELY.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/24/america-pregnant-women-murder-charges
There is a comment in the article about how contradictory it is for abortion to be legal, but the unintentional termination of a pregnancy is somehow murder. It's just absurd.
So, now women are to be held accountable for the outcome of their pregnancies. This sets such a dangerous precedent, and it is a contortion of the law in the first place. The law they are bending to bring charges against these women was meant to protect the pregnant woman and unborn child from attack by third parties, not to maliciously prosecute the pregnant women themselves
.
I first read about something of this nature on the ACLU's website:
http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform-reproductive-freedom-womens-rights/pregnant-women-need-health-care-not-jail
A prosecutor in Alabama has similarly contorted a law meant to protect children whose parents were operating meth labs in their homes to extend to pregnant mothers with addiction issues. Some 40 women have been charged with chemical endangerment of a child simply for being addicted during a pregnancy.
This poses a host of ills that these witch hunters can't be taking into consideration.
For starters, the abortion rate will no doubt sky-rocket amongst addicts. For people who claim to be pro-life, implementing policies that will only serve to increase the incidence of the very thing they seek to prevent, it's just madness.
And here again, if they are concerned with the well-being of children, seeing to it that addicted mothers shy away from much needed health care can't be doing a service to their cause.
I could go on, but it isn't really necessary.
It's clear to any reasonable human being that this is a political agenda, not an outcome motivated initiative seeking to protect the rights or quality of life of anyone, mother or child.
Is there no limit to the insanity of right wing conservatives?
How long before fertility is regulated? How long before the state will come around to collect your newborn, as a matter of course, until you establish that you can care for it?
And furthermore, when addicted mothers never bother to go to their doctors, how does the state propose to track down those who are addicts?
It could be like the immigration profiling in Alabama, where if a cop sees a brown person, they can demand proof of citizenship or visa on the spot. This would mean that any woman who is pregnant could potentially be drug screened, with the "probable cause" being her swollen abdomen.
This will also invariably increase the number of unreported home births, and thereby a horrendous increase in the maternal/infant mortality rate. Alabama and other states who are following this assault on human rights will have pushed their statistics right up there with that of the third world.
And the advancement of the rights of women, straight back to the Victorian era.
