[UPDATE: Eternal Vigilance and the Power of the Blog. Democracy for Virginia's posting on HB 1677 has provoked a rapid, vigorous response from both the 'blogosphere' and other concerned individuals - to the extent that John Cosgrove has backpedaled refined and reworded his legislative proposal. DfV has two important updates well worth reading - a clarification of the bill's intention and a reply from Delegate Cosgrove. In his reply, Cosgrove claims HB 1677 was never intended to force women to report miscarriages to police - but rather, was meant to discourage "dumpster baby" abandonments - never mind that VA already has laws allowing a mother to drop off her newborn anonymously at a hospital or medical facility without legal penalty. Unfortunately, the wording of HB 1677 was so broad it very easily could be interpreted as a requirement for women to report miscarriages at any gestational stage to police. Readers' comments are also very informative here.]

Yes, Virginia, the bright shiny New Year brings yet more draconian Handmaid's Tale-ish proposed legislation, this time from VA delegate John Cosgrove. The proposed law? Making a woman's failure to report her miscarriage to police within 12 hours a crime, punishable by up to a year in jail and/or a $2500.00 fine. From Greengrl:

Delegate John Cosgrove (R-VA House of Representatives) has introduced a bill that will make it a Class 1 misdemenor in VA to have a miscarriage and not report it to authorities within 12-24 hours. Now, most (all, I would assume) women who experience miscarriages are in tremendous pain and trauma, but if HR1677 [the link is the full text of the bill] is allowed to become law in Virginia, they will also have to report to the cops with very personal information at such a painful and traumatic time.

According to the blog, Democracy for Virginia:

...this bill means that a woman who experiences a spontaneous loss of pregnancy will have her privacy violated significantly more than if she had chosen an abortion. Though Virginia requires that induced terminations of pregnancy be reported, those reporting forms require only a “patient number” and information on the procedure. The “report of fetal death” asks for the woman’s full name, her history of prenatal care, her marital status, her education history, her previous deliveries (if any), and a number of other very intrusive data items.

If the miscarriage occurred under a physician’s care, all of this information would be provided by the physician out of the patient’s medical records. Physicians and/or funeral directors are given 24 hours to file this report. Delegate Cosgrove’s bill gives women who experience miscarriage without a doctor only 12 hours to report, adding insult to injury. [Thanks, Democracy for Virginia. Emphasis mine.]

I don’t think I’ve ever read anything so f***ing insensitive and downright cruel in my life. Add to a woman’s misery at losing a baby by treating her like a criminal? My God, what the hell is wrong with this guy?

I suggest other bloggers pick up on this story, in the hopes of giving it national coverage. It’s shameful what Delegate Cosgrove is trying to do in VA. Knowing the amount of trauma miscarriage causes, it’s absolutely reprehensible what he’s trying to do with this bill.

Read more at Democracy for Virignia; the post is both enlightening and greatly disturbing. So this is the "compassionate conservativism" we're getting as a result of the so-called "new Republican mandate"? I think it's utterly misguided, misogynist legislation.

Importantly, nowhere in the wording of the proposed bill is there any mention of how old the fetus must be before the proposed law would be triggered; which is a problem since many women may not know they are having a miscarriage, especially in early stages of pregnancy. Early miscarriages can also present as nothing more than heavy, prolonged menstrual periods: will these need to be reported to the local police department, as well?

HB1677 isn't a law to protect women, children, mothers, fathers, or "family values." It seems designed to placate the twisted consciences of those heartless enough to attempt to criminalize one of a woman's deepest personal (and family) tragedies - as evidenced by the bill's provision calling for personal information, such as a woman's prenatal health care, education level, and previous birth history. In other words, information that might be able to place blame on the woman for her miscarriage.

Shame on you, John Cosgrove; I'm quite sure there's a special place in Hades for "philanthropists" like you. [Click on link for his contact info, if you feel like letting him know how you feel about HB1677] Let's hope this House bill gets soundly flushed down the crapper.

* John Cosgrove is also the chief sponsor of 2004 HB1, Virginia's broadly (and vaguely) worded feticide law*, VA Code Ch. 1026 Section § 18.2-32.2.

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