Here we go again
As some of you may recall, last year a Virginia delegate introduced a really stupid bill that would have required women to report all miscarriages to the police within 12 hours. Largely due to a bunch of really ticked off infertility and parenting bloggers, the sponsor was flooded with outraged emails and calls, and soon withdrew the bill.
Do you think we can do it again?
The new legislative season is about to begin in Virginia, so it’s time for more idiocies. As Julie reports at a little pregnant, Delegate Bob Marshall has introduced a bill that would ban doctors and nurses (anyone "licensed by a health regulatory board") from performing or assisting an unmarried woman in any form of assisted reproduction "that completely or partially replaces sexual intercourse as the means of conception."
I feel compelled to point out that Marshall is the author of Virginia’s stringent anti-gay marriage law, which prohibits "other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage." So, lesbians are out of luck, unless they can find a man willing to enter into a sham marriage with them, in which case everything is fine and dandy according to Mr. Marshall.
But it’s not just lesbians who are affected, or single women who want to have babies without finding someone to hook up with for a night. As Maura pointed out at Julie’s site, Marshall has links to the American Life League, which believes that all reproductive assistance is an affront to human dignity. Fine, he’s entitled to believe that. Even to do his best to convince others that it’s true. But he’s not entitled to make it the law of the land.
Via Landismom, I read Trey’s post last week about gay and lesbian families moving away from hostile states, like Virginia. I certainly can’t blame anyone for making that choice. But I do believe that those of us who aren’t directly threatened by bills like this (as a married, fertile woman, I’m not) have an obligation to fight against them as hard as we would if we were personally affected.
I’m confident that my delegate will be as opposed to this bill as I am, but I’ll drop him a note anyway. If you live in Virginia, please contact your delegate. And all of us can give Mr. Marshall a piece of our mind.
January 9th, 2006 at 11:07 am
I totally agree with your comment about how we all have the responsibility to fight against these kinds of things becoming law.
January 9th, 2006 at 5:39 pm
Marshall is immune to your views. He goes out of his way to be offensive to people and groups of whom/which he disapproves. Other Reeps might be better able to hear you.
Last election, I gave $150 to Roemmelt, who ran against Marshall (and got 45%) and $150 to Poisson, who beat Black (Black is the guy who used to distribute little fetus models to other Delegates when abortion measures were up for discussion). My plan is to give $300 to Roemmelt next time, if he runs again. Maybe he will – he has a blog, and is making some of the right noises.
I suggest this as a better strategy than sitting comfy in a Dem district at election time, then being unhappy when things go poorly during a legislative session.
January 9th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
nice post on Marshall from Waldo Jaquith, one of the consistently interesting VADem bloggers: http://waldo.jaquith.org/blog/2006/01/marshall-crazy-bills/#comments
January 9th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
I feel ill just hearing about this insanity.
January 10th, 2006 at 8:20 am
But wait–there’s more! His latest plans include no more anonymous gamete donations:
HB 412 Identification of gamete donors. Del. Robert Marshall. Prohibits the use of unrelated anonymous donor oocyte or sperm in the performance of intervening medical technology that completely or partially replaces sexual intercourse as a means of conception and requires, notwithstanding any traditional practice, agreement, regulation, or law to the contrary, the identity of any unrelated oocyte or sperm donor to be noted in the health record of any woman patient whenever any healthcare practitioner licensed by a health regulatory board uses any unrelated donor gametes in the performance of or while assisting in the performance of such intervening medical technology, such as artificial insemination by donor, cryopreservation of gametes and embryos, in vitro fertilization, embryo transfer, gamete intrafallopian tube transfer, and low tubal ovum transfer.
January 18th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Been a bad day for Turkey Baster Bob…
http://www.raisingkaine.com/1641