Stop crying and call the police...

One of the saddest experiences a woman can go through is miscarriage. Women who miscarry fetuses suffer terrible grief, and if one Virginia legislator has his way, they may also experience the grief of having a criminal record.

Proposed House Bill 1677 would require women who miscarry to report the fetal death to the appropriate law enforcement agency within 12 hours or be charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor. And under this propsed law, women couldn't just stop crying for a moment and call the police. They would have to give the police the same information that doctors are required to give when they report fetal deaths: when the fetus was delivered, whether there were any congenital malfunctions, the weight and gender of the fetus, the number of prenatal visits the mother had, the history of the pregnancy, etc.

Also, the woman would be required to tell whether she was married to the father of the child, and what her previous deliveries were like.

The bill, proposed by Delegate John Cosgrove, may not read as though it could pass, but the anti-privacy and anti-woman movements are so big that the possibility of passage cannot be discounted, especially in a state like Virginia.

Women who miscarry tend to feel a lot of guilt. Now, if Cosgrove has his way, they can feel even more.