Thank You Bobby Franklin
I’ve been away from my blog for eight months. Since I haven’t written anything on it for such an extended time period, the pressure is on for my return to be something really worthwhile, something that really needs to be written about. It couldn’t just be a random blog about how cute one of my kids is or some grammar or punctuation concern that frustrates my students. It had to be big. Well, some big things have happened recently, which I’ve wanted to write about and still may although the window of timeliness is passing. However, yesterday something caught my attention that made me say, “Surely, there’s no credence to this accusation.” So, being a responsible citizen of the world, not wanting to pass on unfounded crap, I did some research. I couldn’t find anything but a highly biased source that could corroborate what I’d been seeing on Facebook and Twitter. Therefore, I reached out to my friends for help, and one of them hooked me up with a news story that made my blood boil. That’s how it came about that I’m thanking State Representative from Georgia Bobby Franklin. Thank you for giving me something worthwhile enough to make my comeback to blogging.
Bobby Franklin, a Republican State Representative from the 43rd District in Georgia, wants to criminalize miscarriages (and abortions for that matter) in his state. Rep. Franklin has introduced a bill that would make miscarriages in which the woman couldn’t prove that the loss of her pregnancy hadn’t been caused by any “human involvement whatsoever” (House Bill 1 line 119 & 120) a felony. “Such a term does not include a naturally occurring expulsion of a fetus known medically as a ‘spontaneous abortion’ and popularly as a ‘miscarriage’” (House Bill 1 line 118 & 119). However, anything else is to be called “prenatal murder” (House Bill 1 line 114). The bill does say that removal of a dead fetus provided the “physician makes a medically justified effort to save the lives of both the mother and the fetus and the fetus does not survive. . . shall not be prenatal murder” (House Bill 1 line 115, 116, 117). Therefore, when all is said and done, the mother and her doctor better be able to prove that her miscarriage was an act of God, so to speak, or they’d be facing criminal charges.
So the question or questions that beg to be asked here is: How does Rep. Franklin and any of his colleagues who might think this bill is a good one to vote for think that this law is going to be enforced? Also, who will enforce this law? Will there be a governing body that will scrutinize the medical reports of every miscarriage in the state for possible signs of “foul play”? Finally, who the bloody hell does this MAN think he is to take one of the most traumatic things that can happen to a woman, especially a woman who has longed for and desperately wanted a baby but had a difficult time conceiving one, and say it is a crime? The absolute gall. The egomaniacal God complex that this. . .okay, I’m going to say it. . . NUT JOB must have.
Hopefully, sane heads will prevail. If this bill passes, I predict that the protesting we’ve been seeing in Wisconsin will be nothing compared to the righteous outrage from women (and men) that this law will bring. I know of what I am writing about. Six years ago, on November 3rd, 2005, I suffered a miscarriage–and yes, suffered is the right word. Aside from losing my father, the loss of my unborn baby was the most devastating thing that has ever happened to me. After over a year of trying to get pregnant, the excitement that me, my husband, and two older daughters felt was incredible only to have that excitement crushed a few weeks later when at an emergency room visit a doctor I’ve never met in my life and who had no stake in my personal well being beyond his Hippocratic Oath told me my baby was “no longer viable.” I cannot imagine the further emotional trauma I would have had to go through if this doctor then had to ask me a multitude of questions to determine my role in the death of my baby. And why would he want to be on my side; I’m just some woman who walked in off the street. I could be a low-life drug addict or, gee, maybe I drank some alcohol a few days before I found out I was pregnant. Or . . .fill in the blank. Hopefully, you see where I’m going with this line of reasoning.
According to MayoClinic.com, “Most miscarriages occur because the fetus isn’t developing normally.” Usually, there’s no definitive reason for a miscarriage or why the fetus isn’t developing normally. Therefore, if left up to a legal interpretation, especially in a state that would pass such an oppressive law, the mother could be accused of having “human involvement” in causing her miscarriage, thus, making her open to prosecution. As if the women wouldn’t already be questioning everything she’d done from the time she found out she was pregnant to the time she miscarried, she doesn’t need a legal reason to continue to torment herself or need some authority tormenting her trying to find out her culpability in this tragedy.
This whole bill seems a bit like accusing a rape victim of “asking for it” because she was dressed a certain way, was on a date with the man, or was a “tease.” Well, in fact, according to WSAV, the NBC affiliate in Savannah, Georgia, “[l]ast year Franklin, who’s served in the Georgia House since 1997, proposed a law that would reclassify victims of domestic violence as “accusers” (WSAV.com).
So, again I’m left asking myself a series of questions, which I hope Franklin’s colleagues are asking themselves as well: What does Bobby Franklin have against women? Why is he so hell bent on holding them responsible for things that happen to them versus things that they can control? Is this just one more example of the far rights’ assault against women? Or is this just a “rogue” wingnut out to make his mark at the expense of women?
Finally, I wonder what his wife Pat thinks of tormenting and criminalizing women who’ve just lost a child? I will pray that good sense will prevail and that Franklin will realize that women are his equals and not his targets for persecution. Mostly, I’ll be praying for Pat, the woman who has to live with this misogynist who wants to take this country back to our Puritanical roots where women were labeled a la The Scarlet Letter for the whores of Satan that they were. I guess I’d be labeled with a Scarlet M.
References:
To see the full bill, go to: http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display.aspx?Legislation=31965
For the news source I used to verify this story: http://www2.wsav.com/news/2011/feb/25/2/ga-representative-seeking-make-miscarriages-prenat-ar-1507906/
Thanks, Jody Ellison, for The Scarlet Letter reference.
March 5, 2011 10:14 pm 2 Comments
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By Pam, March 5, 2011 @ 10:38 pm
Do you have any idea how proud of you I am?
By Jana, March 6, 2011 @ 11:30 am
Awesome post, Glenna. I totally agree with you. This man is encouraging such intrusiveness and judgment on a woman’s already devastating experience.