HB1677: Television coverage on NBC12 in Richmond

ALERT!  NBC Channel 12 in Richmond will be doing a story tonight on HB1677, the "fetal death reporting" bill, at 6PM and 11PM tonight.

The story will feature interviews with Delegate Cosgrove and a concerned Richmond-area woman who wrote to him about this story.  If you are in the Richmond area and are able to catch this story, please comment here to let us know how it was covered!

UPDATE:  NBC Channel 12's coverage is available here - watch the video yourself.  The report says, "Delegate Cosgrove says it's nothing more than a misunderstanding."

I beg to differ, as do hundreds of readers who have read the primary source materials themselves and come to their own conclusions.  We don't misunderstand what the bill says.  Whether it is what Cosgrove meant to legislate is arguable, but there is nothing in HB1677, as written, about saving live infants from being abandoned.  Nothing about "babies who are newborn that are immediately abandoned to die", as Cosgrove claims.

It's a fair point that the word "miscarriage" is not used, either.  But the legislation is very clearly about "fetal death".  Nobody manufactured out of thin air an interpretation that suggestion it would apply to miscarriages.  The Code of Virginia definition of "fetal death" is here.  It's very clear that this definition includes miscarriages.  It's very clear that this definition does NOT include "babies who are newborn".  Don't take my word for it.  Please.  Read the existing definition yourself.  Read HB1677 yourself. 

Comments

[Elaine in Roanoke VA]

I can pretty well guess how the story will be covered...The reporter will be a woman, thin and blond and with very white teeth. Cosgrove will be given 2/3 to 3/4 of the 1 to 1.5 minutes the story gets...The reporter will spin how women from all over the country got very upset (read that "hysterical") over a bill the Cosgrove just put in at the request of the poor police in Chesapeake who don't know how else to deal with all the dead fetuses they find around. The reporter will then make sure to end on a note that is positive for Del Cosgrove and his steadfast desire to protect babies, the police, and righteous women everywhere. I'm sorry to be so cynical, but TV news, especially local news, relies so heavily on corporate ads and is so geared to "if it bleeds, it leads," that this story will probably be spun as a crime prevention effort by Cosgrove.
Please do, someone, let us know how the story goes. I'm all for the TV station getting lots of mail, calls and emails if they do not do a straight reporting of the story.

[Meryl Yourish]

Ooh, Elaine, wrong on every guess except for the woman reporter.

It was the first story on Fox 5 News at Ten, which shares NBC12's news stories. In fact, they promoted it during 24, which is why I stayed on Fox 5 for the news. The angle was the same one this blog too, that women with miscarriages might have to report them to the police or face penalties.

I missed the first few seconds of the story, but they led with the woman from Virginia who called attention to this issue. They interviewed her, and she said that it was awful to have to go through a miscarriage and then have to have your privacy invaded. They switched to a website with Cosgrove's letter of explanation. Then they had a phone interview with Cosgrove (poor quality cell phone, no less) who said his bill had nothing to do with miscarriages, abortion, or conception, that it had to do with abandoned babies. Then they went back to the VA woman, who said that isn't the intent of the bill right now, that it is "very set up for abuse."

Then they switched back to the reporter, who said Cosgrove said the language of the bill would be changed so that it applies only to babies whose mothers say they were stillborn.

Oh, and the reporter is a brunette.

[Meryl Yourish]

An addendum to the above: It was the lead story on Channel 12 (NBC), too. Same story, but I caught the first part this time. The angle was quite clearly the same one Maura's posts took, that this bill would criminalize failure to report abortions. The last word was the reporting talking about how Cosgrove would change the language of the bill.

I'd give you a full transcript, but really, I don't think it's needed. Not as much as I need to go to get some sleep, anyway.

[ema]

Meryl,

Thank you for the report.

[Anne M.]

Thanks for the info!

[Elaine in Roanoke]

Oh, a brunette! News in eastern VA must be more diverse than what we normally get :) I guess I actually was thinking of the female anchors on the cable news channels - which I am presently boycotting, anyway :)
I'm really glad that the news story was presented in a "fair and balanced" way :)
Again, congrats to the people in local news in the Richmond area.
And, we all owe Maura a huge thank you for allowing us to be informed about this "abortive" bill and the strange justification Cosgrove used when he was caught out.
Let's all try to read the prospective legislation and keep one another informed. Maura can't do all the work for the rest of us.
This is what Howard Dean meant when he said we have to take back the country, starting right where we live.
Thanks again, Maura!

[Laura]

I just wanted to let you know that it was also on the news down here in the Hampton Roads area (ie: chesapeake). I havent seen it yet, I Tivo'd it b/c I really wanted to see it. They were advertising the story earlier in the night. I am anxious to see what is said... I will let you know...

[Robin in Richmond]

I'll bet the true intent of the bill is to outlaw morning-after pills and track down women who get prescriptions and buy them.

[Laura]

Okay, very disappointing. I just watched the News here on Wavy news 10. The story was titled reporting stillbirths. It made no mention of what that would constitute, but had Cosgrove on there saying the wording of the bill would change to reflect that. Not sure what that means, he never said. They had another woman giving her side, but cut into it, I am sure... she was just saying that that would be a horrible experience for someone to have to endure, etc... All in all, basically it just said women who have stillbirths would be required to report them (if they are not under a dr's care at the time) so they could be investigated to make sure the baby was born stillborn and not alive. Again, it made no mention of a timeframe for how old gestationally this would be. Anyways... I was disappointed that the true story was not really reflected. But they did say the story was getting alot of attention, so that is good!

[Click here for DU Top Ten Conservative Idiots Column]

Thanks to this story, John Cosgrove has been featured at Democractic Underground's "Top 10 Conservative Idiots" column.

This list includes:

1. Armstrong Williams
2. Alberto Gonzales
3. John Cosgrove*
4. Congressional Republicans
5. Kenneth Blackwell
6. The White House
7. George Bush
8. The American Society for the Defense fo Tradition, Family, and Property
9. Jeb Bush, and
10. Bill O'Reilly

Coming in at #3 on such a high-profile national list this week is really an accomplishment. Congratulations, John Cosgrove, for being the #3 Conservative Idiot of the Week! Break out the bubbly!

[Click for WAVY10 article]

Here's a link to the Norfolk NBC affiliate site, about their coverage (someone mentioned it above).
It is the first article/link on their homepage at this moment.

hhttp://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=2787395

Doesn't say much...on the whole disappointing. But it does show that the story has legs...and that there is more too it than meets the eye. Hopefully this will spur others to research.

[click for WWBT Richmond NBC affiliate]

And here's the Richmond NBC affliate story:

http://www.wwbt.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WWBT%2FMGArticle%2FWBT_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031780116372

a video clip is available at that site.

[ema]

I have confirmation from the city that the police department did not submit any legislative package to Del. Cosgrove.

Someone needs to double check my find. (I posted all the pertinent contact info.)

[ema]

That should read "... any legislative package related to House Bill 1677 ..."

[Stacy]

I live in Massachusetts and was just sent a petition by NARAL, and in it was a short statement about this bill. I've read about it on this site and hope that it has not come to pass, since I'm learning about this 5 months after the fact! Anyway, here in MA we have a "Baby Safe Haven" law allowing "a parent to legally surrender newborn infants 7 days old or younger at a hospital, police station, or manned fire station without facing criminal prosecution." It is an ammendment to MA GL 119, effective October 2004. This would seem like a much more reasonable piece of legislation to base the Virginia bill on! I certainly hope that Cosgrove has seen the light of reason!

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