Scott Walker does raise an interesting point in opposing abortion even when the mother's life

[StevieM]

is in jeopardy.

Let's suppose abortion is criminalized and an exception is made for the life of the mother. Who will decide whether it is truly a "justified" abortion? How will the mother prove it? What guarantee will the doctor have that they won't be charged with a crime at a later date?

I have heard stories of women who have had the child die in utero during their third trimester. They have a hard time getting the doctor to remove the baby, out of fear that he will be charged with committing a crime. In one case, the woman had the dead baby in her for way too long and, as a result, she ultimately could not have additional children.

Would there be some kind of government board? An oversight committee? Basically, all the things that the GOP doesn't like about Obamacare. (Some of which don't even really exist).

And on a related note....what about miscarriages? Don't all miscarriages automatically become potential homicides? Will poor women be required to have an attorney appointed to her from the first minute of the investigation? Can we trust all states to treat all races equally? Or even fairly?

[dsc]

1. in the days before Roe there were boards of doctors who made these decisions

I would presume the issue of a dead fetus would be way easier now than it used to be since we can determine without a doubt that the fetus is, indeed dead. but other issues would still be a problem in this regard.

[StevieM]

9. That raises the question of who would be appointed to the boards? What would be the criteria for

deciding who is the right person to make these decisions?

Would a person have to pledge that they are pro-life in order to be selected? Kind of like the way you have to support the death penalty in order to serve on the jury in some states? Or people with a history in the right to life movement?

Would campaign contributors be more likely to get the appointment? Or could they recommend a doctor to be appointed if they are not a physician themselves?

During the occupation of Iraq people were given jobs based on ideology and influence. People in the pro-life movement and children of campaign contributors were given fairly high level positions. 24 year olds were running around with stock market privatization schemes and plans to build oil pipe lines to Haifa. I even heard that the traffic laws were picked based on the traffic laws of Maryland, because some kid put in charge was from Maryland.

It is ironic how the Republicans insist that the government can do nothing right--unless it is making war and governing women's bodies.

[mrmpa]

2. I had a cousin, who lost her baby in utero..........

in about the 7 1/2 month point. The doctors at a catholic hospital would not remove it from her & she had to wait until her cervix became dilated & the doctors could "pretend" they had delivered a stillborn. The bastards, this was about 1974.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. ugh. Let that kind of ill treatment of women remain in the past

[StevieM]

8. These are the days the GOP wants to bring us back to. These were the good old days in their minds.

Misogyny is at the heart of their ideology.

And yes, those doctors were bastards.

[hifiguy]

3. Snotty would probably reserve the decision for himself.

His ego is that big.

And the answer would ALWAYS be NO!

[Brickbat]

4. You're talking as if these were hypotheticals, when in fact they are reality.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/08/abortion-refusal-death-ireland-hindu-woman

http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/09/05/miscarriage-isnt-illegal-increasingly-treated-suspicion/

[StevieM]

6. I realize that. I am trying to demonstrate the path that we are inevitably heading down if

Roe vs. Wade is overturned. These scenarios will become the new normal.

Thanks for posting those links.

[Fred Sanders]

5. The logical next step would be Church Courts, like in Saudi.

[pnwmom]

10. An Indiana woman has already been imprisoned for having a stillbirth.

We can't trust the government to be involved in these medical decisions, which should only be between a woman and her doctor.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/01/indiana-woman-jailed-for-feticide-its-n

The verdict makes Patel the first woman in the U.S. to be charged, convicted and sentenced for “feticide” for ending her own pregnancy, according to the group National Advocates for Pregnant Women (“NAPW”). Though Patel said she had had a miscarriage, she was found guilty of taking illegal abortion drugs. The Indiana statute under which Patel was convicted bans “knowingly or intentionally terminat[ing] a human pregnancy” with any intention other than producing a live birth, removing a dead fetus or performing a legal abortion.

Monday’s sentencing brought an end to Patel’s trial, but it may be only the beginning of the public debate about the details of her case. Patel’s conviction has many pro-choice activists alarmed that feticide laws, initially passed as a means of protecting pregnant women from providers of dangerous illegal abortions and other sources of harm, are now being used against them.

“Prosecutors in Indiana are using this very sad situation to establish that intentional abortions as well as unintentional pregnancy losses should be punished as crimes,” Lynn Paltrow, executive director for NAPW, told the Guardian in August of 2014. “… No woman should be arrested for the outcome of her pregnancy.”

According to local CNN affiliate WSBT, Patel, a 33-year-old from a family of Indian immigrants in South Bend, Ind., told a police detective she had been aware of her pregnancy for three weeks when she left work early because of cramping back in July 2013. Eventually the pain sent her into the bathroom, where “it all came out,” she said. Among the blood, she found her fetus, which looked lifeless. She tried to open the baby’s mouth and resuscitate it, but was unsuccessful.

[ismnotwasm]

11. +1000