I’m late in talking about this, partially as I’ve been busy with other stuff, and partially because I was too angry to be coherent. Hopefully I have calmed down a little now.
The State of Utah is introducing a new law that will make women liable to face murder charges if they suffer a miscarriage.
Yes, you did read that correctly. There you are, utterly distraught over having lost your baby, and instead of being comforted you find yourself up in court on a murder charge. It is the sort of thing that could only happen in some imagined dystopia such as the world of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, or the various violent patriarchies with which Sheri Tepper fills her books.
In fairness to the Utah lawmakers, what they are trying to do is address an issue about an abortion. In theory the law is there to deal with women who try to induce a miscarriage because they can’t get an abortion legally. The example given in the story I linked to is pretty horrible. But regardless of of your views on abortion this law will be a disaster, because the potential for misuse is enormous.
Consider what happens in rape trials. In theory a rape trial is all about proving whether a man is guilty of rape. In practice all to often it comes down to a woman having to prove that she is innocent of having had sex willingly. The mere fact that intercourse took place is taken as evidence of her guilt.
The same is going to happen here. The fact of a miscarriage will be taken as evidence that the woman is guilty of failing to look after her baby properly, and it will be up to her to prove her innocence. You say you fell down stairs, madam. How are we to know that you didn’t do that deliberately? You caught an unpleasant illness? Well surely you should have been at home taking care of yourself and the baby, not at work where you would be at risk. Your partner beat you up? Are you sure that you didn’t provoke him deliberately?
And if you are thinking “this won’t happen”, think again. Because Iowa has a very similar law in operation, and such cases are already happening.
In related news, Mercedes Allen has a story from New Orleans about about an 1805 law against “unnatural copulation” that is being used to label prostitutes as “sex offenders” and place them under the same legal restrictions created to control pedophiles. Oddly enough it is only women who are targeted in this way. The men who take part in, and indeed pay for, these “unnatural” acts get off without charges.
Imagine that, a male dominated lawmaking authority, especially one in a very religious area, using the laws to keep women ‘in their place’ Welcome to the 17th century, Utah….
Not sure about comparing this to rape trials though – point taken about women often having to prove their innocence as victims against the man’s guilt as attacker; too many guilty, I’m sure, do get away with it using this method by vile lawyers. But should also be pointed out, especially in the UK where the woman has the right of anonymity but the man is publicly named even if found totally innocent that men can and have had their reputations destroyed by women out of pure malice, not because they actually did anything, a nightmare scenario for any man. Presumed innocence until provn otherwise is, sadly, often a myth for men as well as women.
In the right environment, yes. I also think it likely that the majority of women who fall victim to this law will be poor, people of color, single mothers and the like. If we had such a law in the UK the tabloid newspapers would be falling over themselves in their haste to find “guilty” women whom they could pillory.
Try being a young teenage Muslim girl in Malaysia, pregnant and abandoned and penniless. Do you get help to make sure you don’t kill your baby at birth?
Nope. You get thrown in jail for as long as 6 months for moral turpitude, are pretty much told you can’t keep your child (although that doesn’t have the force of law it becomes virtually impossible to keep it), get whipped (for purposes of humiliation rather than pain, we are assured) and indoctrinated until you admit how dreadful your wicked behaviour has been.
Funny, though, they seem to be very very quiet about what happened to the men in the case… Maybe it was immaculate conception? Three cases just recently! Any wonder there is a rise in newborn infanticide?
Perhaps if one buys a package of Pampers for the child before one falls down the stairs one will be be held harmless. That’s right women! Always keep a package of Pampers around! Just as my mother’s generation always kept several hundred dollars around just in case they had to go to Canada and get an abortion.
(This based on historical references I’ve read about trials for “overlaying”, or suffocating newborns or infants. Often women would use as a defense that they prepared linen for the child).
Thank you for covering this. When I read the article on RH Reality Check on February 25th, I thought I had to be misreading, sheer unbelief.
“Consider what happens in rape trials. In theory a rape trial is all about proving whether a man is guilty of rape. In practice all to often it comes down to a woman having to prove that she is innocent of having had sex willingly. The mere fact that intercourse took place is taken as evidence of her guilt.”
While I understand, and can even agree with, the point you’re trying to make with the paragraph quoted above it implies (and understand I don’t think it is what you meant) that rape is a crime that only happens to women.
Regardless, I wholly share your outrage about even the possibility that such a law might come to fruition.
Mike: Yes, you are dead right. Men do get raped too (and people who don’t identify as male or female for that matter). I was aware of this when I was writing it, and made an editorial decision not to elaborate in favor of a briefer, clearer message. Thank you for not assuming that I was being blinkered.
I find this incredibly sad especially as I’m still recovering from a miscarraige – I felt bad enough as it was and yes even guilty that I had maybe done something wrong – if I’d had the law come down on me in the way this suggests then in the state I was in (bereaved) I would have attempted suicide to be quiet honest 🙁
And the comment about Malaysia is very distressing too – this is why we need blogs and things so we can see this hidden truths and not just hide in our cosy places thinking everything is all right.
Hugs. I’m sorry to have brought back such painful memories.