Okay, so today's vote in Mississippi hearkens back to the ol' "when life begins" issue. And they're proposing that life begins at fertilization.
Fertilization, people.
Do you comprehend the ramifications of this?! Well, let's be clear. If life begins at fertilization, at the very moment that sperm meets egg and an embryo is formed, then it means the following:
Women who are raped, and subsequently become pregnant from that attack cannot have an abortion.
Women who are pregnant and discover at some point that the pregnancy is not viable outside the uterus, cannot have an abortion. If they do, they will be charged with murder.
Couples like me and Hubby, who undergo IVF (or any ART), will not be able to discard any embryos... regardless of viability.
If a woman becomes pregnant and then loses the baby, even a chemical pregnancy... then she will be committing murder. (So I had three embryos transferred into me, and only one child resulted. Does that mean I murdered two of them because they did not implant?! Come on...)
A woman who is pregnant who develops a life-threatening condition because of the pregnancy will not be permitted to terminate; it will be committing murder.
I wonder if it would mean that anyone who undergoes IVF in Mississippi would have to have all embryos transferred... if for example, freezing an embryo would not be permitted? Scary thoughts. (Can you say Octo-Mom?)
What would happen in the case of an ectopic pregnancy? Because if you leave an ectopic pregnancy to develop, it can very well result both baby and mother's death. Yet under this law, removing an ectopic pregnancy would be murder too. That simply doesn't make sense. At all.
Do you see the slippery slope here? I believe, like so many others, that women/couples can determine when it is the right time to have a baby, and when it is not. (Mind you, that implies some sort of level of sanity and recognition of your own particular situation and ability to raise said child.) And I believe that Mississippi should stay out of the bedrooms of its citizens.
Say NO to Mississipi's Proposition 26 today. Vote with your sensibilities. Don't be damn stupid. I have to believe that people in Mississippi have a grain of sense and will shoot this one down.
Showing posts with label legislation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label legislation. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Voices of Women; Time to Unite
My dear blogging friend, Keiko Zoll, has issued a call to action for all of the women out there, and all of the men who support them.
It doesn't matter if you are Pro Life, Pro Choice, Pro Cheesehead... whatever. This crosses all boundaries and it will affect people of every walk of life.
I confess, this mainly applies to the women who are in the United States. I would (obviously) have very little pull with lawmakers in the US. However, I do have family and good friends in the USA, who would certainly be affected by the asinine bills and papers that are currently being presented by some officials. I was appalled to read of these on Keiko's blog. But dear Lord, it made me sit up, take notice... and shake my head in utter disbelief.
Imagine, if you will, being subjected to Iowa's Personhood Law (HF 153). Like me, you're infertile. You go through years of grief, finally turning to IVF. And YAY! In that IVF cycle, you have managed to fertilize all eight of your eggs! Even better, three made great blasts and were transferred. But shucks, the others aren't of good enough quality to save for future use and wouldn't survive a freeze/thaw according to your doctor. Guess what? YOU cannot make the decision to dispose of them, nor can your doctor. It would be illegal to dispose of them. C'est la vie! Because according to this one, it would be labelled murder to get rid of them. Stupidly enough, this one was authored by a female. God knows where her head was when she concocted this one. Logically, it doesn't make sense. Good Lord, has she not got a brain in her head at all? And this one PASSED an Iowa House subcomittee! Colour me confused. How the heck does that happen?? As Keiko said, "Do you live in Iowa? Does this piss you off? Contact your representative and tell them why it matters to YOU, their constituents. You can search for your Iowa legislators here online for their full contact info."
It's important to speak up about these sorts of things. Why? Because it works. Let me reiterate some of Keiko's post:
South Dakota, in House Bill 1171 (introduced by Rep. Phil Jensen), sought to redefine justifiable homicide:
Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person while resisting any attempt to murder such person, or to harm the unborn child of such person in a manner and to a degree likely to result in the death of the unborn child, or to commit any felony upon him or her, or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person is. (Source.)
As Keiko says, "In a nutshell, it would create legal precedent for someone to kill abortion clinic workers. Let's broaden this a bit: remember those blasties I mentioned a few paragraphs up? Let's say those low-grade blasties are discarded. According to HB 1171, it would be justifiable homicide to take out the offending embryologist who discarded them. Thankfully, the public outcry, both from South Dakotans and the blogosphere, was large enough that the language was changed and ultimately, South Dakota realized that maybe this whole thing didn't need to be brought to the table at all."
*blink blink*
So had this gone through, and were I a resident of South Dakota when we did our IVF, some nutcase could have taken out the embryologist that created MY LITTLE GIRL and it would be "justifiable homicide"?? Hell no! This is insane! Again, logical reasoning seems to escape them.
And this time, you know what some yahoo is seeking to do? CUT FUNDING TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD. New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, is behind this one. Last I looked, he didn't have a uterus, but damn, he's gonna try to tell women how and where to get their reproductive care? Um... no?! How about NO!!! *mutters* Doofus...
As we all know, Planned Parenthood is much more than just abortions. They provide access to birth control, pap smears, tests for sexually transmitted diseases and testing for many women who simply don't have access to health care, for whatever reason. By taking away the ability of Planned Parenthood to do these things, they are directly contributing to the increased risk of infertility for all of Planned Parenthood's clients. Those clients will NOT be able to access the reproductive care that they need. Again, per Keiko's words, "Don't know how your Representative voted? You can check here online to see whether or not they voted to defund Planned Parenthood. Then take the time to thank those that who supported PP or speak your mind to those who did vote to defund PP." And if you would like to sign the petition that Planned Parenthood has on their website to protest these cuts, check it out. I wish I could add my voice; alas, as a Canadian I cannot.
But more than either of these, this next one gets me riled. The inanity of this one is unparalleled. It just takes the cake. According to Georgia Rep, Bobby Franklin, (who is more knowledgeable than the Supreme Court in this case, apparently), "as we all know, life begins at conception" and as such, any termination -- for any reason/circumstance -- of that life would need to be reported. This dimwit is pushing for the following legislation:
"...any time a miscarriage occurs, whether in a hospital or without medical assistance, it must be reported and a fetal death certificate issued. If the cause of death is unknown, it must be investigated... Hospitals are required to keep records of anyone who has a spontaneous abortion and report it." (Source.)
A FETAL DEATH CERTIFICATE?? F*ck me people. That's impossible. Think about it. What about the typical three miscarriages/chemical pregnancies that even non-IF women have (and don't realize it) before they carry a pregnancy to term? Cause under this law, my two chemical pregnancies would be reported and hey, I'd be a baby killer, cause you know, I have 'fetal death certificates' to show for it. Or what about the woman who learns that she has cancer and must terminate the pregnancy to receive treatment? Or the woman who learns that she is carry a fetus with life-threatening characteristics (e.g., ancephaly) and the fetus cannot survive outside the womb? Must that woman carry the pregnancy to term? And to what end... only to watch her baby die just after birth? And then she'd be given a death certificate anyway, to boot? Dear Lord. This is crazy. It isn't logical. It makes no sense.
"Just a minute Mr. Franklin, I have a RL friend who just this morning learned about this month's chemical pregnancy at 15 dpo; shall I issue her a fetal death certificate now? And maybe have her prosecuted as well for your pleasure?"
Get a grip buddy. Or maybe you won't have to. Maybe the outcry from infertility bloggers will be enough.
Go read Keiko's entire post. Blog about it. Tweet about it. Write about it on Facebook. Get it out there. Because we all need to keep abreast of the laws that govern reproduction in America (and elsewhere), in order to protect our own rights. The nation of infertiles won't stand for this and honestly, it's time that people took notice.
It doesn't matter if you are Pro Life, Pro Choice, Pro Cheesehead... whatever. This crosses all boundaries and it will affect people of every walk of life.
I confess, this mainly applies to the women who are in the United States. I would (obviously) have very little pull with lawmakers in the US. However, I do have family and good friends in the USA, who would certainly be affected by the asinine bills and papers that are currently being presented by some officials. I was appalled to read of these on Keiko's blog. But dear Lord, it made me sit up, take notice... and shake my head in utter disbelief.
Imagine, if you will, being subjected to Iowa's Personhood Law (HF 153). Like me, you're infertile. You go through years of grief, finally turning to IVF. And YAY! In that IVF cycle, you have managed to fertilize all eight of your eggs! Even better, three made great blasts and were transferred. But shucks, the others aren't of good enough quality to save for future use and wouldn't survive a freeze/thaw according to your doctor. Guess what? YOU cannot make the decision to dispose of them, nor can your doctor. It would be illegal to dispose of them. C'est la vie! Because according to this one, it would be labelled murder to get rid of them. Stupidly enough, this one was authored by a female. God knows where her head was when she concocted this one. Logically, it doesn't make sense. Good Lord, has she not got a brain in her head at all? And this one PASSED an Iowa House subcomittee! Colour me confused. How the heck does that happen?? As Keiko said, "Do you live in Iowa? Does this piss you off? Contact your representative and tell them why it matters to YOU, their constituents. You can search for your Iowa legislators here online for their full contact info."
It's important to speak up about these sorts of things. Why? Because it works. Let me reiterate some of Keiko's post:
South Dakota, in House Bill 1171 (introduced by Rep. Phil Jensen), sought to redefine justifiable homicide:
Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person while resisting any attempt to murder such person, or to harm the unborn child of such person in a manner and to a degree likely to result in the death of the unborn child, or to commit any felony upon him or her, or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person is. (Source.)
As Keiko says, "In a nutshell, it would create legal precedent for someone to kill abortion clinic workers. Let's broaden this a bit: remember those blasties I mentioned a few paragraphs up? Let's say those low-grade blasties are discarded. According to HB 1171, it would be justifiable homicide to take out the offending embryologist who discarded them. Thankfully, the public outcry, both from South Dakotans and the blogosphere, was large enough that the language was changed and ultimately, South Dakota realized that maybe this whole thing didn't need to be brought to the table at all."
*blink blink*
So had this gone through, and were I a resident of South Dakota when we did our IVF, some nutcase could have taken out the embryologist that created MY LITTLE GIRL and it would be "justifiable homicide"?? Hell no! This is insane! Again, logical reasoning seems to escape them.
And this time, you know what some yahoo is seeking to do? CUT FUNDING TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD. New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, is behind this one. Last I looked, he didn't have a uterus, but damn, he's gonna try to tell women how and where to get their reproductive care? Um... no?! How about NO!!! *mutters* Doofus...
As we all know, Planned Parenthood is much more than just abortions. They provide access to birth control, pap smears, tests for sexually transmitted diseases and testing for many women who simply don't have access to health care, for whatever reason. By taking away the ability of Planned Parenthood to do these things, they are directly contributing to the increased risk of infertility for all of Planned Parenthood's clients. Those clients will NOT be able to access the reproductive care that they need. Again, per Keiko's words, "Don't know how your Representative voted? You can check here online to see whether or not they voted to defund Planned Parenthood. Then take the time to thank those that who supported PP or speak your mind to those who did vote to defund PP." And if you would like to sign the petition that Planned Parenthood has on their website to protest these cuts, check it out. I wish I could add my voice; alas, as a Canadian I cannot.
But more than either of these, this next one gets me riled. The inanity of this one is unparalleled. It just takes the cake. According to Georgia Rep, Bobby Franklin, (who is more knowledgeable than the Supreme Court in this case, apparently), "as we all know, life begins at conception" and as such, any termination -- for any reason/circumstance -- of that life would need to be reported. This dimwit is pushing for the following legislation:
"...any time a miscarriage occurs, whether in a hospital or without medical assistance, it must be reported and a fetal death certificate issued. If the cause of death is unknown, it must be investigated... Hospitals are required to keep records of anyone who has a spontaneous abortion and report it." (Source.)
A FETAL DEATH CERTIFICATE?? F*ck me people. That's impossible. Think about it. What about the typical three miscarriages/chemical pregnancies that even non-IF women have (and don't realize it) before they carry a pregnancy to term? Cause under this law, my two chemical pregnancies would be reported and hey, I'd be a baby killer, cause you know, I have 'fetal death certificates' to show for it. Or what about the woman who learns that she has cancer and must terminate the pregnancy to receive treatment? Or the woman who learns that she is carry a fetus with life-threatening characteristics (e.g., ancephaly) and the fetus cannot survive outside the womb? Must that woman carry the pregnancy to term? And to what end... only to watch her baby die just after birth? And then she'd be given a death certificate anyway, to boot? Dear Lord. This is crazy. It isn't logical. It makes no sense.
"Just a minute Mr. Franklin, I have a RL friend who just this morning learned about this month's chemical pregnancy at 15 dpo; shall I issue her a fetal death certificate now? And maybe have her prosecuted as well for your pleasure?"
Get a grip buddy. Or maybe you won't have to. Maybe the outcry from infertility bloggers will be enough.
Go read Keiko's entire post. Blog about it. Tweet about it. Write about it on Facebook. Get it out there. Because we all need to keep abreast of the laws that govern reproduction in America (and elsewhere), in order to protect our own rights. The nation of infertiles won't stand for this and honestly, it's time that people took notice.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Quebec will fund IF treatments!
Today, there is some great news on the infertility front here in Canada. At least ONE province has stepped up to the plate...
Quebec to fund in vitro fertility treatments (link to the article on the CBC News site)
It's wonderful to see some movement by a provincial government on this issue. I know the Ontario government has begun their own studies and made recommendations to the same effect (I was interviewed by Ontario's Expert Panel for this process). And with some luck, the same funding will soon be available in Ontario. I can only hope.
Makes me wonder if I ought to hold out a bit, if we're going to try for a second child. Who knows, it may be funded after all...
On a personal note, I'm looking for two bloggers.
The first is Mick (previously from wannabedad.blogspot.com and more recently from irishpolishdad at wordpress). Both blogs are MIA and I've no e-mail address for Mick and his wife. I'd love to know how things are going and/or follow along with his story. If you know where to find Mick (or Mick, you're visiting my blog today!) jot me a note with your contact details please! You can find me at jiliana2 (at) gmail (dot) com.
The second is a dear blogger who said she would like a Refund On These Ovaries (refundontheseovaries.blogspot.com). The title of her blog had changed to Over My Ovaries and On With my Life and detailed her and her DH's efforts to pursue adoption in their state. I haven't been as diligent with commenting over there and now I've lost access! If you have her e-mail address, let me know so I can get in touch and request access.
Petite's RSV isn't as severe. She's still not 100% so a planned driving trip to WV and VA next week had to be cancelled. C'est la vie. One of many sacrifices for our daughter in the years to come.
Quebec to fund in vitro fertility treatments (link to the article on the CBC News site)
It's wonderful to see some movement by a provincial government on this issue. I know the Ontario government has begun their own studies and made recommendations to the same effect (I was interviewed by Ontario's Expert Panel for this process). And with some luck, the same funding will soon be available in Ontario. I can only hope.
Makes me wonder if I ought to hold out a bit, if we're going to try for a second child. Who knows, it may be funded after all...
On a personal note, I'm looking for two bloggers.
The first is Mick (previously from wannabedad.blogspot.com and more recently from irishpolishdad at wordpress). Both blogs are MIA and I've no e-mail address for Mick and his wife. I'd love to know how things are going and/or follow along with his story. If you know where to find Mick (or Mick, you're visiting my blog today!) jot me a note with your contact details please! You can find me at jiliana2 (at) gmail (dot) com.
The second is a dear blogger who said she would like a Refund On These Ovaries (refundontheseovaries.blogspot.com). The title of her blog had changed to Over My Ovaries and On With my Life and detailed her and her DH's efforts to pursue adoption in their state. I haven't been as diligent with commenting over there and now I've lost access! If you have her e-mail address, let me know so I can get in touch and request access.
Petite's RSV isn't as severe. She's still not 100% so a planned driving trip to WV and VA next week had to be cancelled. C'est la vie. One of many sacrifices for our daughter in the years to come.
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