Well the mid-term elections didn't go so well for those who wished to enhance the reproductive rights of women. Now that republicans have taken over both the House and the Senate, we can expect harsher abortion laws. But I'm not writing this post about abortion rights. I'm writing about the rights of women who want to have a baby. Recently Lynn M. Paltrow and Jeanne Flavin published an op-ed article in the New York Times bringing to light an upsurge in arrests of pregnant women accused of attempting to harm their child. According to the article, "such laws are increasingly being used as the basis for arresting women who have no intention of ending a pregnancy and for preventing women from making their own decisions about how they will give birth."
The article listed a number of outrageous cases where pregnant women have not only been arrested on bogus charges but led to their deaths. There has been an on going effort on the part of conservatives to not only restrict abortion access but advocate for the "personhood" rights of fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses.
In Washington D.C, a judge ordered seriously ill 27-year old woman who was 2 months pregnant to have a cesarean section. He knew that the procedure what potentially be data. As a result the woman and her baby did not survive.
In Utah, a woman who gave birth to twins was arrested after one came out as a stillborn. There was suspicion that the woman's decision to hold off on a c-section was worthy of charges of fetal homicide. In Florida a woman who went into labor at home was arrested by a sheriff and strapped down in an ambulance. She was then forced to have a cesarean. When the mother went to court it was concluded that a "woman's personal constitutional right clearly did not outweigh the interests of the State of Florida in preserving the life of the unborn chid."
Since 2005, around 380 pregnant women have been arrested under these accusations. The liberties of pregnant women are under attack. Not only is the right to an abortion being harshly restricted but a pregnant woman's right to make her own choices, medical privacy, physical integrity and much more. The cases I have shared are just a few of the outrageous charges made against women. These actions seem to be those made in the middle ages and not in the 21st century. We are living in a Margaret Atwood novel where women are being used solely as baby carriers rather than human beings.
Sources:
The article listed a number of outrageous cases where pregnant women have not only been arrested on bogus charges but led to their deaths. There has been an on going effort on the part of conservatives to not only restrict abortion access but advocate for the "personhood" rights of fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses.
In Washington D.C, a judge ordered seriously ill 27-year old woman who was 2 months pregnant to have a cesarean section. He knew that the procedure what potentially be data. As a result the woman and her baby did not survive.
In Utah, a woman who gave birth to twins was arrested after one came out as a stillborn. There was suspicion that the woman's decision to hold off on a c-section was worthy of charges of fetal homicide. In Florida a woman who went into labor at home was arrested by a sheriff and strapped down in an ambulance. She was then forced to have a cesarean. When the mother went to court it was concluded that a "woman's personal constitutional right clearly did not outweigh the interests of the State of Florida in preserving the life of the unborn chid."
Since 2005, around 380 pregnant women have been arrested under these accusations. The liberties of pregnant women are under attack. Not only is the right to an abortion being harshly restricted but a pregnant woman's right to make her own choices, medical privacy, physical integrity and much more. The cases I have shared are just a few of the outrageous charges made against women. These actions seem to be those made in the middle ages and not in the 21st century. We are living in a Margaret Atwood novel where women are being used solely as baby carriers rather than human beings.
Sources:
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