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ema

From the links you provided,

The definiton of fetal death:

2. "Fetal death" means death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, regardless of the duration of pregnancy; death is indicated by the fact that after such expulsion or extraction the fetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles.

The proposed bill:

When a fetal death occurs without medical attendance, it shall be the woman's responsibility to report the death to the law-enforcement agency in the jurisdiction of which the delivery occurs within 12 hours after the delivery. A violation of this section shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Del. Cosgrove's intention:

"reduce the number of "trashcan" babies that are born and then abandoned in trashcans, toilets, or elsewhere to die from exposure or worse."

Death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a POC excludes "d[eath] from exposure or worse". It appears the issue of "trashcan babies" is a red herring.

Rana

Ema - yes. Either Cosgrove is a moron, or a cruel, arrogant bastard who thinks women are idiots. Either way, I wouldn't want him making laws affecting my emotional and biological health.

Elaine in Roanoke VA

Del. Cosgrove sure misses the boat if he thinks that making it a crime to fail to report a miscarriage will stop babies from being abandoned after birth. By definition, a miscarriage means that the fetus is already dead.
If he is serious, then he needs to insure that Virginia has a law that allows babies born to mothers who either can't or won't keep them to be left - without legal ramifications - at hospitals, police stations, etc. Many states have such a law, and Virginia needs one if we don't.
My guess is that Cosgrove put this law in as a way to legally declare a fetus a person with equal rights to the mother. The conservatives who want the state to control women's medical decisions regarding procreation have been seeking every way they can to declare a fetus equal to or more important than a woman. That way, any operation that terminates a pregnancy is tantamount to murder.
In Virginia we can't even get women who have been raped to get "morning after" pills to insure that they won't get pregnant from the attack.

Elizabeth

Really nice reporting, exactly what everyone hoped the internet could be used for. Oddly enough, in the 2003 version of this bill (which went nowhere, thankfully) Cosgrove explicitly limited it to miscarriages after 24 weeks. See:
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?031+sum+HB1421

So it can't be accidental that he changed the wording this time.

Maura in VA

Wow, Elizabeth! You found the smoking gun right there. Your response is exactly what I hoped the internet would be for, also -- you picked up right where I left off and found the next piece of relevant evidence.

And that IS the smoking gun. It was leaving a smidgen of room to assume that Cosgrove meant what he said about this bill being about abandoned infants. But last year he wrote a bill about that, and it stalled in committee. This bill is about reporting fetal deaths. He knew it, he knew it covered more than just 24 weeks gestation +, and we know he knew it because last year he bothered to specify.

Thank you so much, Elizabeth. Another update shortly crediting you for this information...plus one other amazing connection I hadn't made yet that Lenka from a blog called Farkleberries (click my name for link) when she took my info and went in her own research direction, too -- she made the connection that Cosgrove was the chief patron of last year's "feticide" bill. Which, I'm sorry to say, is now the law of the Commonwealth. Add all this together and his agenda becomes pretty clear.

You rock!

ema

Maura, thank you for your reporting.

Elizabeth, good catch.

Any woman who, without the assistance of a health care professional, gives birth after more than 24 weeks have elapsed since the beginning of her last menstrual period and who, though she is reasonably able to do so, fails to report the birth, whether a live birth or stillbirth, within 12 hours of the event, to the local sheriff, police department or fire department is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

1. Is the woman expected to determine the estimated (usually, +/- 2 weeks) gestational age, and, if yes, how?

2. How is reasonably able to do so defined?

3. Is the woman expected to determine if the birth was a live birth or stillbirth, and, if yes, how?

4. Is giving birth a matter of law enforcement, and, if not, then why the requirement to report it to the police? [I don't even know how to frame the question for the fire dept. The fire dept.???]

The more I think about this, the more I suspect the intent is to track medical abortions.

minnie

what about that young woman in South Carolina - regina mcknight - who was sentanced to 12 years in prison for manslaughter for a stillbirth?

(see http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20031215&s=talvi)

the court convicted her of causing her miscarriage because she was a cocaine addict, although there is no evidence linking cocaine use to miscarriage. now I don't think that anyone should be using harmful drugs - during pregnancy or not - but regina was 26, homeless, minimally-educated, marginally employeed, and in a state and country which has lousy support for poor pregnant women. I think that she needed help, not a jail sentance.

it seems like this proposed VA law would give the state an opportunity to prosecute any women that it finds (through its investigation) to have "caused" their miscarriage. Maybe these women used legal or illegal drugs sometime during the pregnancy, or maybe they hadn't made a prenatal doctor's appointment, or maybe they just ate fruit loops for breakfast.

Sarah

Could this be a backdoor attempt to render the "morning after pill" illegal?

Annette Corpe

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. As a woman who is no longer of child bearing age nor a resident of Virginia, this is the first I have heard of this travesty. Why should I be so concerned, considering the above? Because this absurd law could open a pandora's box of set president for the nation and other individual states. I have been through the pain of many miscarriages in my past years, all while married and for unknown reasons and the cause of much conjecture by numerous physicians at the time. I cannot imagine having to add the pain, humiliation and trauma of having to report these events to the police, as well. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!

goescrunch

The more I think about this, the more I suspect the intent is to track medical abortions.

Sounds like it's also a way to attempt to go after those who partake in herbal abortions. LoL... As if anyone who has a successful herbal abortion would go around town bragging about it in the first place!

::sigh:: This twit is an idiot. If he's really so concerned about "trashcan babies" he'd just make infanticide illegal. Oh wait! It IS!!! It's already illegal to dump babies in trashcans!

This is all about removing womens reproductive rights, plain and simple.

Sheila Kelly

Whatever the hidden agenda is, no woman should have to put up with this type of violation. I've alerted my readership and will pass this along to other writers I know.

bellatrys

Maura, I've seen all these people, including "prolife" Republicans, who are baffled by this.

It's obvious, to me - as a former "prolife" Republican, who knew *exactly* what "Dred Scott" mean in the debates as he said it.

This is a bill that is intended to criminalize Plan B, and probably all oral contraceptives, because the teaching among Christian "prolifers" these past 30 years is that the Pill is primarily an abortifacient, *when Roe versus Wade is overturned.*

Because when that happens, it will be back to the old situation which obtained pre-71, which is that every state's own laws prevailed. Some did have it illegal, others didn't.

It's kind of like the FMA in re marriage, in that regard - a pre-emptive strike that seems unnecessary because there are already other laws in place - but they are taking no chances.

So when Roe vs. Wade is overturned - and I say "when," because that is how confident the Xtian Wrong is that it will happen, now that the Godly are in power - the states that don't already have laws like this will have to scramble and fight to pass them openly.

Much easier to sneak something like this under the wire ahead of time...to intimidate women from using contraceptives lest they be among those picked to be sacrificed with fines and criminal record. --Sorry ma'am, it's just the law, I didn't make it, I just enforce it...

Amy Lindsay

Who the Hell are you to say that a woman should go to jail because she lost her child? Most women experience miscarriages and don't even know they did. Also, it's NOT the woman's fault if she miscarries. I had a miscarriage in Feb. 2000..Should I go to jail? This is absolutely outrageous and you need to get a hobby or something. You obviously have nothing better to do then think up stupid laws. A woman has her right to privacy and something such as the loss of a child no matter what the gestation age is a very hard thing for a woman to deal with! We shouldn't have to go and tell the whole world we lost our babies. Grow up and find something better to do with your time.

jeanette dainty

Wow - I think this is a really ridiculous proposal that Del. Cosgrove is making! Is this guy in his right mind? He's taking a personal tragedy for many women and making it a violation against society?
I understand that one in four pregnancies are miscarried. This is what my OB/Gyn told me three months ago when I sufferd my first miscarriage- albeit my second pregnancy. She said "it's unfortunate and very normal to miscarry". These were comforting words.
This idea of Del. Cosgrove's, to report women who have suffered a miscarriage to the authorities and then put them through the judicial system is absurd, inhumane, and out and out wrong. If he is trying to eliminate these "trash can babies" then he needs to withdraw this proposal and present a completely different concept. How about mandating women to complete a course of education pertaining to fertility, pre-conception, conception, pregnancy, labor, delivery, and what to do with the beautiful baby once you return home? This is a much better way to spend this nation's citizen's money than to prosecute and penalize.

M.

How dare a man of all people decide what a women should do after her unborn child dies! I do not think I am the only one who finds this is absolutely ridiculous! Yes, I can understand reporting to your doctor if this were to happen; but filing a report with the police within the next 12 hours or going to jail time seems a bit over the top. Give these women some respect. Isn't your childs death hard enough to deal with without some sleezy polititian getting involved? I thought so too.

Sue

According to this, the bill was "offered" on Jan 12, 2005:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?051+ful+HB1677

HOUSE BILL NO. 1677
Offered January 12, 2005
Prefiled December 17, 2004
A BILL to amend and reenact § 32.1-264 of the Code of Virginia, relating to reports of fetal deaths; penalty.
----------
Patron-- Cosgrove

So it wasn't really withdrawn as reported in The Augusta Free Press, HamptonRoads.com, daily KOS, etc??

Sue

Oh, sorry, yes it was withdrawn:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?051+vot+H08V0043+HB1677

(HB1677) 01/12/05 House: Stricken from docket by C. J. (22-Y 0-N)

Lisa Hill Sutton

While I appreciate your zeal in trying to have this bill killed, I was deeply saddened to the point of tears when I read the following paragraph:
"In the 2003 legislative session in Virginia, a law was passed allowing parents to request a “birth certificate” for a stillbirth, a law that is clearly in line with the agenda of anti-abortion extremists to recognize embryonic and fetal personhood."
I am a the grieving mother of a stillborn baby boy, Frederick Nathaniel Sutton, BORN 12/19/03. I am one of those people you are calling an "anti-abortionist extremist" who DEMANDED my 'fetus' receive "fetal personhood". The state had no problem handing out a death certificate for my son, but how can one be certified as dead had they not at one point been alive??
With all the 'respect' I have inside of me, I ask you to RESPECT other moms like myself and PLEASE REMOVE THE PARAGRAPH I QUOTED FROM YOUR WEBSITE AS IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ISSUE AT HAND. It only serves to alienate someone like myself who would have GLADLY contacted Cosgrove..but as of now I have so much rage inside of me that you could be so insensitive that I will NOT be writing him.
If you really don't believe a stillborn child deserves to be issued a birth certificate, then I pray you never give birth to such a child.
At least take this issue up in a separate forum.
Respectfully,
Lisa Hill-Sutton
Mother to one miscarried child 10/01
Mother to Natalie 9/27/02
Mother to Frederick Nathaniel 12/19/03

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