Collisions with Reality

There have been so many frustrating things about the ongoing contraception debate in the U.S. Unfortunately, one of the things that has been lost in the debate — perhaps because it’s been dominated by men — is the basic, basic reasoning behind the contraception mandate in the first place.

Contraception is preventative health care.

I have been pregnant. It was, as these things go, a very easy pregnancy, and now I have a delightful two-year-old to show for it. Yet pregnancy absolutely affected my day-to-day health and activity. Recovering from childbirth affected my day-to-day health and activity. And have I mentioned the two-year-old? He started out as a helpless baby who nursed round-the-clock every 2-3 hours for months.

At the same time, I had every advantage possible: health care, health insurance, breastfeeding guidance, you name it. I was in excellent physical shape when I became pregnant. My husband is (and has always been) an equal partner in housework and child-minding. We were able to take advantage of all that because we were able to plan the pregnancy — we had the resources to make sure that we could wait until we were ready.

On International Women’s Day, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that while pregnancy and childbearing takes a toll on even those of us who are privileged, most women in this world do not have every advantage that I do. It is not a coincidence that contraception is financially out of reach for many women, and half of pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned. Internationally, the picture is even bleaker. Women under the age of twenty who have children are more likely to suffer birth injuries, more likely to die in childbirth, and more likely to become stuck in a cycle of poverty. Family planning gives women personal autonomy when it comes to their health, their careers, and their lives.

Contraception is preventative health care.

A bill has been proposed in the Georgia Assembly that would outlaw abortion in Georgia. And just to make sure that they don’t miss any illicit abortions, section 2.14 (see page 7 of this PDF file of the full text of the bill) stipulates that all “spontaneous fetal deaths” must be registered with the county. It goes on to say:

(3) When a spontaneous fetal death required to be reported by this Code section occurs without medical attendance at or immediately after the delivery or when inquiry is required by Article 2 of Chapter 16 of Title 45, the ‘Georgia Death Investigation Act,’ the proper investigating official shall investigate the cause of fetal death and shall prepare and file the report within 30 days[.]

In other words, if you miscarry at home, you’re automatically a suspect.

I know the sponsor of this bill has other unreasonable proposals, and maybe it won’t even make it out of committee. Unfortunately, there is precedent for bills of this sort.

• A bill requiring that miscarriages be reported within 12 hours was proposed in Virginia in 2004, but did not make it out of committee.

• In 2010, Utah passed a bill that criminalized any “intentional, knowing, or reckless act” that could lead to a miscarriage. The only good news here is that the word “negligence” was dropped from the bill. (I don’t even want to ask what would qualify as a negligent or reckless act during pregnancy. Is forgetting the prenatal vitamin one morning negligent? Is the small cup of coffee reckless?)
• Recently, an Idaho pharmacist refused to fill a prescription for methergine, because of the possibility that the patient had just had an abortion, not a miscarriage.

Why am I pro-choice? Many reasons, but today I am pro-choice because women who have miscarriages are not criminals.

(By the way, still waiting for any of these so-called pro-life politicians to tackle the infant mortality rate in the U.S..)