Saintless

HB 12 is  bill that is supposed to allow a women to be charged with criminal homicide for obtaining an illegal abortion or inducing a miscarriage, whether intentionally or through “reckless” behavior. It was introduced in response to a young woman in Utah who got someone to beat her up, so she would have a miscarriage. But, the motivations behind it may not be as pure.

But, what is “reckless” behavior? Is it not wearing a seatbelt, and getting into an accident? Is it drinking alcohol, and the baby is stillborn? Is it staying with an abusive partner and having miscarriage after getting the crap beat out of her? Is it going mountain climbing, and taking a fall that results in a miscarriage?

I’ve heard some argue that “no one is going to do  that”. But, the fact that it could happen is a scary thing. If this bill is signed into law, and some one in a position to decide makes a claim that a woman who has suffered a miscarriage is guilty of criminal homicide, it doesn’t matter whether a judge and jury find her not guilty. Any woman who has gone through a miscarriage knows the pain.

I had a miscarriage long ago. The pain is long gone. It was before having my two beautiful sons, and it was so many years ago that it feels like a different lifetime. But, when a friend recently went through the trauma, I thought back to what I had felt. And I was mixed up, confused, scared, hurt, and even though it was early in the unplanned pregnancy – I mourned the loss. I cannot comprehend the feelings that a woman who is further into a pregnancy might go through. But, I know that they are devastating.

And if even once, this law were abused, it would be a horrendous thing.

Yes, the woman who had someone beat her up in order to try to cause a miscarriage did a horrible thing. But, do you think that a law against it would have changed anything? I don’t.

This bill creates a law that is ripe for abuse. That alone makes it wrong, but even more, the idea of women’s lives potentially being torn apart for something that is already such a tragedy is something we should not tolerate as a society.

I hope that you’ll write or call Governor Herbert, and ask him not to criminalize miscarriages. You can also sign the Petition at Change.org.