Georgia Rep. Bobby Franklin Wants 25% of Women Investigated for Murder

The title of this blog says it all.  Georgia Rep. Bobby Franklin has proposed a bill to Georgia legislation that would bring upon investigations of, wait for it, miscarriages.  What it actually says is this:

"'Prenatal murder' means the intentional removal of a fetus from a woman with an
115 intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus; provided, however,116 that if a physician makes a medically justified effort to save the lives of both the mother117 and the fetus and the fetus does not survive, such action shall not be prenatal murder.
118 Such term does not include a naturally occurring expulsion of a fetus known medically
119 as a 'spontaneous abortion' and popularly as a 'miscarriage' so long as there is no human120 involvement whatsoever in the causation of such event.
121 (c) The act of prenatal murder is contrary to the health and well-being of the citizens of
122 this state and to the state itself and is illegal in this state in all instances.
123 (d) Any person committing prenatal murder in this state shall be guilty of a felony and,
124 upon conviction, shall be punished as provided in subsection (d) of Code Section 16-5-1.
125 The license of any physician indicted for an alleged violation of this Code section shall be
126 suspended until resolution of the matter. The license of any physician convicted of a
127 violation of this Code section shall be permanently revoked. The provisions of this Code
128 section shall be in addition to any other provisions relating to the killing of a fetus or any
129 other person."

The entire bill can be viewed here.

Now, this issue is near and dear to my heart, except for the fact that I, thank God, do not live in Georgia or Utah. 

Utah has already passed a similar bill and is awaiting the Governor's signature.

This sort of legislation holds so many questions that were and are left unanswered as they are being considered and passed in these two states.  What if a woman finds out that she is genetically incapable of carrying a baby full term? Would she be held accountable? Or what if she becomes ill, and because of the illness, would her Dr be held accountable for not enough intervention to try and keep the fetus alive? What if the Dr misses a disease or condition, such as a clotting condition that causes numerous miscarriages, and the women don't even know about it until after their 3rd or 4th miscarriages and get tested for the clotting factors after the fact.  Would the Dr be held accountable?  What if the woman gets an infections, has to be treated with a certain antibiotic, and the risks out weight the benefits and possible dangers and the mother ends up losing the child any how. Who's at fault then, the mother, or the Dr?

That last scenario, I would personally like the answer of, as that is exactly what happened in my case.  On November 11, 2010, I woke up that morning, not feeling all that right.  I remember that feeling as I had the icky, light headed feeling right before I found out I was pregnant with both my daughter and my son.  So, being the paranoid person I am, I always kept pregnancy tests for those months that I was a day or two late.  Well, the 11th was the day I was supposed to start (you know, the girly thing that guys don't understand and hate to talk about).  So, without thinking, I unwrapped the pee stick, peed on it, and went in the living room to grab my morning pop, and did my usual routine I did every morning.  About two minutes later, I casually walked to the bathroom, looked at the stick and was dumbfounded.  There were 2 pink lines.  It clearly stated right on the stick II = Pregnant.  Now, I already knew that's what it meant.  I have 2 kids.  I know how to read a pregnancy test, but I was none-the-less surprised as hell, happy, and scared all at the same time.  I had my daughter in October of 2008, my son in September of 2009, and according to that stick, and the 20 Due Date Calculators I immediately did online, I was bound to have another one July of 2011.  My husband and I had just recently talked about trying.  Key word is talking.  Nothing had been set in stone, but at the same time, no precautions were taken.  It was a "if it happens, it happens" sort of deal.  So, I call the Dr, make an appointment for about a month later.  We went, they did an ultrasound, saw a heartbeat, everything looked absolutely normal.  At that point, being 9 weeks pregnant, and seeing a heartbeat, the chances of miscarriage drops below 5%.  So to us, there was nothing to worry about.  We went through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.  We had started telling everyone around the middle of December and were talking about names, and I would pick up a few little toys here and there.

Fast forward to our 2nd prenatal appointment.  January 6th, 2011.  I will never forget this day.  My husband, my 2 kids, and I all went.  We wanted to see the really good picture of the baby, and at 14 weeks, we would have seen hands and feet, and a mouth, and most importantly a heartbeat.  While waiting for the Dr, my daughter (2 years old mind you) was just throwing massive fits, so I just told my husband to go to the car with her, and I should be down shortly. No big deal, I'll just show him the pictures.  The Dr comes in, and we chit-chat and talk about the other 2 babies that he had delivered and you know, all the good stuff.  He then does the ultrasound, and at first doesn't let me see the screen, of which then, I got a little suspicious.  As he was looking, I saw a puzzled look on his face and the nurses face.  He then said "Well, Cheri, there's something here that I see that makes me a little nervous" and then turns the screen to where I can see it.  At first I see a baby.  A head, arms, legs, then I notice it also, there's no heartbeat.  He let it sit there for a couple of seconds just to make sure, and so that I can make sure myself that there was no mistaking it.  My baby had not survived.  I break. I absolutely lose it.  At that point, the nurse asked if I wanted her to call my husband to come back up and I asked her please do.  He came up, and I had to tell him, and they had to schedule the D&C as I knew, being that far along, I could not handle seeing my baby come out of me at home.  The baby at that point was the size of a plum, according to what BabyCenter.com told me in my email subscriptions that displayed week-by-week developments of my baby.

We went home, and the whole way back, I did nothing by cry.  When we got there, we put our 2 down for a nap, and we both were just absolutely heartbroken.  We both cried.  We both sobbed, and we both did not understand.  At 9 weeks there was a heartbeat.  At 14 weeks, there was none, and the baby had developed perfectly.  There was nothing anatomically incorrect with the baby.  A week before our 2nd prenatal appointment, I had gotten an infection on my face called MRSA.  My son got it when he was 5 months old, had to be hospitalized and a drain put in surgically.  It's a nasty little bacteria that only a certain type of antibiotics can take care of.  It's resistant to the more commonly used antibiotics.  So, the antibiotics that a Dr in the ER had given me was a heavy duty one.  But he reassured me that it was "safe for baby".  I trusted him.  Of which I wish I hadn't.  After we found out we lost the baby, I thought it was more than just a coincidence that the baby had died the week I was on the "safe for baby" antibiotics.  I did a little research and found out that the medication that Dr had given me, was known to cause miscarriages.  Imagine my pain, guilt, and hatred for the ER Dr that assured me at least 3 times that it was absolutely safe for me to take.

It's now been 2 months.  We had special arrangements for our baby and we have their ashes here at home with us, instead of what the hospital does.  They wait until they have 20-30 "miscarried" babies and then they cremate them all together and put them under a tree behind the hospital.  My husband and I didn't feel like that would give enough recoginition for our baby.  We knew this baby lived for 2 months.  The heart starts to beat at 5-6 weeks and we lost him/her at 13 weeks.  This baby knew what it felt like to be alive, and we understood that and we wanted to acknowledge and legitamize that for us.  The pain is very real.  This picture is the only picture that I have in memory of Riley.

Now back to Georgia's and Utah's laws.  In my case, who would have been held responsible? Me, my Dr, or the ER Dr?  Should anyone had been held responsible??

According to American Pregnancy "Studies reveal that anywhere from 10-25% of all clinically recognized pregnancies will end in miscarriage."  That means that up to 25% of all women in the state of Georgia and Utah will be under investigation for "Fetal Murder".  They can also receive a harsher sentence if found guilty than a child molester.  Am I the only one that thinks this is absolutely an attack on woman?  These bills are brought up by old, Christen MEN, that obviously have no clue on the whole miscarriage issue.  They don't understand that women going through a miscarriage already blames themselves enough.  They wanted that baby and it was taken from them, and they had no power, no control, not even a chance to try and save the baby.  I know I didn't.  I should be 21 weeks pregnant.  I should know whether Riley was a boy or girl, and I should be feeling him/her kicking in my belly.  This goes through my mind everyday.  Every day, at one point in the day I look at my children and I realize that what I lost, becomes one of them, and they too lost a brother or sister.  Thank God they are too young to even know what happened.  But if I had to be investigated for this, do you not think that my grieving would have been amplified? Do you really, really think that it is fair?

Personally, I am pro-choice.  I however would never chose the option of an elective abortion for myself unless it was an extreme circumstance, such as my own life at risk, and even then, I would have to think about it.  It wouldn't be a knee-jerk decision for me.  However, I will in no way, shape, or form, tell another person what they feel is the right thing to do for themselves.  That is why we have Roe V. Wade.  To give that option to women, and you have the right to feel the way you do about abortion.  I feel however, that until you personally are willing to care for any and all would-be-aborted babies and give a crap about their living conditions and health after they are born, until then, shut your mouth and dare not say what another woman does with her body is any of your business. 

I had to have the same procedure that they perform on women who chose to have elective abortions.  Even knowing that my baby was already gone, it was still very, very emotional, and not an easy choice to make.  I could not imagine the pain and the guilt of having to make that decision for whatever reason knowing that my baby was still alive.  Women who chose to do so, they do not make the choice lightly I assure you.  It is not a snap decision, and they know, just as well as you do, that it is a baby and they know, without your help, what they are doing.  To punish a woman, who has to make the hardest decision in her life, is inhumaine.  Also, to punish a woman who wanted her baby, and for some unknown reason, the baby was taken from her, is even more so a crime against humanity.  Every person that voted for that bill in Utah should be ashamed of themselves, and any and all person who support either of the bills have no souls.  And that is just my opinion, but I guarentee you, I have more people agree with me than not.  With that said, I bid you good night.  Have a happy Monday, and remember,

If you are thinking, you are winning.