I'd use an icon for expressing rage, but none of them come CLOSE.

[tzikeh]

Utah Governor Signs Controversial Law Charging Women and Girls Who Miscarry With Murder

I don't know how I missed that the bill, that I had heard about and thought, "this is so fucked-up that there's no way even Utah will pass it," was signed into law this week. kirbyfest just posted this.

First of all, this *absolutely* is unconstitutional. If abortion is legal, miscarriage cannot be murder. Period. Someone is going to take this to the courts, all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

In the meantime, there must be something we can do to harm the state of Utah (and really, I'm sorry Utah-ans, as much as I know that has to suck, and if you hate me for this, that's okay, but you are now collateral damage). Writing letters to the governor saying "You've just lost my tourism dollars" will do nothing. What can we DO, right now, to hurt the state where it counts: money. Budget. Income. I want ideas. Let's go. If you can think of another way to hurt Utah that doesn't have anything to do with money, that's fine too.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

"Someone is going to take this to the courts, all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary."

I think getting this before SCOTUS is exactly the point of signing this into law. The anti-abortion crowd wants to throw as many abortion related cases at the Supremes as they can in the hope that continual challenges to its legality will eventually result in the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

E

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think so too.

[kirbyfest.livejournal.com]

I think the only thing that might save us, given the current makeup of the Supremes, is that it seems to be a badly-written law. I'll need to look around for legal writing on this, but I'd like to see how other types of cases define (in a court sense) "intentional and knowing."

For instance: if I were hypothetically pregnant, and I had Subway for lunch, and the lunchmeat had lysteria, and I miscarried, would I be liable? I know lunchmeat isn't good for pregnant women (unless you heat it to steaming, which-- ew), so we've got the "knowing." But would it be "intentional?"

More likely: if I were hypothetically pregnant by my hypothetically abusive husband, and didn't leave him, and his abuse caused a miscarriage, would I be guilty of murder while his abusive ass probably barely gets noticed? I "know" he's abusive, but the miscarriage might not be "intentional."

So what do the cops do?

They do what they do-- some cops let it go. The crazy ones don't. And if the women who had the miscarriage is a woman of color and/or of lower income and/or someone that the cop/doctor/reporting agency just plain doesn't like, she gets prosecuted. While my middle-class white ass probably wouldn't.

This law (assuming you consider it such; I consider it a vile piece of crap) will be impossible to administer with any kind of even-handedness. That's what happens when they are CRAZY LAWS made by crazy bigots who hate women.

Sorry for ranting in your journal, T.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Rant away. We know this law is only going to be abused anyhow.

[lamardeuse.livejournal.com]

I posted about that a couple of weeks ago, but I saw very little about it on the flist generally. I think at that point there wasn't much to stop the governor from signing it anyway. I don't know what kind of action will work - it frightens me to think the US is lurching closer to theocracy every day.

[mirandir.livejournal.com]

I have to shamefully admit that it only came to me today just how fucked up this legislation was.

Any woman who loses their child during pregnancy is vulnerable to criminal prosecution. Even if the system doesn't actually find anyone guilty (fat chance) the implementation of those trials still basically amounts to institutionalized harassment. The law can only make things worse for women even if it is applied fairly.

And that's a best case which totally ignores why the law shouldn't exist in the first place.

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the very real possibility that women won't seek needed medical care for fear of prosecution. It doesn't even have to be a women who fell down the stairs. Practically every pregnancy book I ever read created the impression that nothing you did was good enough, that a sip of coffee would make you miscarry...women who miscarry assume they did something wrong. I can easily see women not seeking medical care.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

It may not do much, but I'd like to see a concerted effort among people who usually ski Utah -- which include many celebrities, many of whom have liberal views -- to actively campaign against Utah as a vacation destination. I'm thinking truly virulent, angry ads, with ski slopes in the background, all pretty, but with a slogan like "Utah: land of ignorance."

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

with ski slopes in the background

Slippery slopes? ;)

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Okay, BRILLIANT!

[klia.livejournal.com]

And what about Robert Redford, whose Sundance Institute and film fest are in UT? Too bad someone can't appeal to him to stand up against this ignorant law.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

... because? It sounds like a good pressure point to me ...

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Indeed it does.

[klia.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have any idea how to reach a celeb personally. Maybe tzikeh does?

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I forgot that's there. I'm horrified. I know it's huge, but it would be awesome to see another state offer to host it, even if it was a scaled-down version.

[klia.livejournal.com]

I doubt that'd happen. I think Redford's lived in Utah for decades, and I believe the Institute is headquartered there.

[auroramama]

How about the companies that make those wonderfully prompt pregnancy tests? Do they realize that a third of the women who test positive that early will miscarry? Taking their tests could expose those women to murder charges.

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

BTW, there is other news coming out of Utah that just adds to the fail: 25 years ago, Utah's House majority leader Kevin Garn sat naked in a hot tub with a 15 year old female employee.

So, basically, a 30 year old man who sat naked in a hot tub with a female employee half his age (She was 15 at the time; she's 40 now while he is 55) and then paid her to keep quiet during his first political run....well, he's now the House majority leader in Utah, probably most definitely 100% behind the passage of Utah's miscarriage criminalization law.

I just don't even. I can't even. This makes me inarticulate.

[geekturnedvamp.livejournal.com]

Believe me when I say I am extremely upset by this, more than I have been by any piece of news in AGES. However, while I share the sentiments behind this post, I think it is wrongheaded. Instead of trying to hurt the entire state of Utah and everyone who lives in it--including many who are no doubt against this law, including the already disadvantaged women who would be the main ones affected by it and who would suffer the most if the state had less money, because you know funding for any programs designed to help them would be the first thing cut in a state that clearly doesn't care about women--I think you should be asking, what progressive organizations in Utah are fighting to get these hateful, corrupt motherfuckers out of office? And then give those organizations money. Fund the revolution, don't just throw the baby out with the bathwater!