Too many of these anti-choice Republicans seriously hate women. George State Rep. Bobby Franklin moves to the top of the list of the He-Man Woman Haters Club:
Franklin's bill, HB 1, women who miscarry could become felons if they cannot prove that there was "no human involvement whatsoever in the causation" of their miscarriage. There is no clarification of what "human involvement" means, and this is hugely problematic as medical doctors do not know exactly what causes miscarriages. Miscarriages are estimated to terminate up to a quarter of all pregnancies and the Mayo Clinic says that "the actual number is probably much higher because many miscarriages occur so early in pregnancy that a woman doesn't even know she's pregnant. Most miscarriages occur because the fetus isn't developing normally."
Hopefully there are enough Georgia lawmakers who have some gray matter left in their skulls -- or at least some basic human compassion socked away somewhere -- who will band together to stop this thing.
It's probably the most awful bit of Republican anti-choice legislation we've seen recently. Now the Republicans want to stick their fat "small government" faces into a miscarriage situation -- arguably one of the most difficult circumstances for women and families. But providing families with affordable healthcare is a bridge too far.
(With apologies to Spanky and Alfalfa, founders of the He-Man Woman Haters Club.)