Proposed Bill in Virginia will make you a criminal if you fail to report a miscarriage.

Virginia State Legislature ^ | 1/7/04 | James Cosgrove

[SilentServiceCPO]

This text is from a proposed bill that will be sent to the House floor in Virginia on 12 January. Rep. Cosgrove's Bill will make it a crime if a woman fails to report a spontaneous miscarriage to the Police within 12 hours. The punishment is 12 months in jail and a $2500 fine. I can't fathom this complete invasion of privacy. The required data you must submit includes Name, SSN, marital status, race, and education level of the mother as well as the weight, age, and sex of fetus. Rep. Cosgrove has reportedly stated that the purpose of this bill is to prevent "trashcan babies" that women may abandon after birth, but that doesn't make sense; this bill specifically staes that it applies only to a fetus that is born dead, and it doesn't make any differentiation as to the age of the fetus. In addition, other portions of the bill require doctors or medical examiners to file reports if they are involved, but they get 24 hours and there are no criminal penalties for them if they fail. One final insult, if you choose to "end the pregnancy" (kill the baby legally), then you get to retain your privacy, the abortion clinic will file the report and they get to leave out your name and personal data. This Bill can't be allowed to pass. I am stunned by this from the guy that represents me in the State Assembly and he will get an email box-full. If any other Virginians agree, you can email Rep Cosgrove at Del_Cosgrove@house.state.va.us

[Nina89]

That is a stupid bill and it is stepping on peoples privacy, you have to practically tell your whole life's story. I'm glad I live in Michigan and not Virginia

[spower]

Yeah! Michigan doesn't have any stupid laws.

[bitt]

stupid not only because of the privacy issue...

talk to any woman who is a mother and you'll find that at least 50% seem to have miscarried at least once...

you can't even see a doctor until after the third month...unless you are a high risk, etc.

[television is just wrong]

What if you don't know about it? I had a grandma who passed away, after the autopsy they found a calcified fetus in her uterus. Gross, but it was never born. Don't know how long it was there?

[NonValueAdded]

Does it include miscarriages of justice?

[Rudder]

When a fetal death occurs without medical attendance, it shall be the woman's responsibility to report the death to the law-enforcement agency

Nahhh...stupid law.

[SilentServiceCPO]

Think about this... Who do you report this to? Does a cop show up while you are still in terrible pain, cramping and bleeding, to take "just the facts". And think of the 21 year old young wife, her Sailor or Soldier husband out to sea or standing duty, having to face a gruff, impersonal police officer in the middle of the night all alone. If she waits 12 hours until her husband comes home, then she is a criminal.

[afnamvet]

Lunacy of government to the nth degree.

[Servant of the 9]

What idiocy.

In the first place, most miscarriages are in the first week or two of gestation and the woman often doesn't know that she is pregnant or that she miscarried.

In the second place, it's none of their damned business.

SO9

[bitt]

'I am stunned by this from the guy that represents me in the State Assembly and he will get an email box-full. If any other Virginians agree, you can email Rep Cosgrove at Del_Cosgrove@house.state.va.us'

Wonder what the women who work in his office had to say as they were 'typing up' his little Bill?

"Hey Del!! Are you nuts???"

[rmmcdaniell]

Its nonsense like this coming from pro-lifers that will allow the abortionists to paint pro-lifers even more as extremists.

The people trying to get this bill passed are cut from the same cloth as the rabid-drug warriors, and those who want to create a federal censorship commision. These authoritarians are the most damaging to the conservative movement.

[pepperdog]

I think Rep. Del has been taking stupid pills. This is beyond ridiculous. Hope you folks in Virginia will let him hear about it.

[SilentServiceCPO]

Exactly, Very well said. I actually first saw this following a link from a link from a link... and saw a comment about it posted on a "less than conservative" site with some disparaging commentary about Republicans. While I can't agree with 99.9% of what else I saw there, this really struck a chord with me, both because of the privacy issue and because it reflects so poorly upon what I know and believe in my heart to be true conservatism. If we don't hold the line against some of the more radical elements ourselves, we risk getting lumped in with them and all painted as extremists.

[Teslas Pigeon]

Does anyone besides Cosgrove support this bill? As you point out the one exception is if there is an abortion by a doc, then that's fine, nothing has to be reported.

[SilentServiceCPO]

The bill as posted on the VA State web site doesn't list any co-sponsors, but it got through commitee and is going to the House floor on Wednesday.

[mrsmith]

"this bill specifically staes that it applies only to a fetus that is born dead"

I believe it is meant to apply only to deaths after the twentieth week.

In the legislation that allowed for birth certificates for children born dead twenty weeks was some kind of cutoff from the Board of Health for fetal deaths.

I admit the law doesn't seem clear about that though.

[ladylib]

Phone his office. Sometimes the staff just ignores e-mails.
It's also effective to write a letter. This is nuts. How did it ever get out of committee?

[KoRn]

In VA a baby dead before 17 weeks is considered a miscarriage. After 17 weeks it's considered 'born dead' and a death certificate has to be issued.

So says my wife who is an RN here in VA, and is also pregnant lol.

[jwalsh07]

This is the current law in Virginia and it only concerns live births and abortions, not miscarriages. To wit:

§ 32.1-264. Reports of fetal deaths; medical certification; investigation by medical examiner; confidentiality of information concerning abortions.

Why don't you send a letter of apology to pro lifers and Cosgrove and stop frequenting "kill'em on the way out" websites.