Starboard Broadside

Just when you thought the Utah state legislature couldn't get more dogmatic, we get the word that they've passed a bill that criminalizes miscarriages. Balloon Juice has the relevant excerpts:

RH Reality Check via Dan Savage:

A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate this week and waiting for the governor’s signature, will make it a crime for a woman to have a miscarriage…. In addition to criminalizing an intentional attempt to induce a miscarriage or abortion, the bill also creates a standard that could make women legally responsible for miscarriages caused by “reckless” behavior. Using the legal standard of “reckless behavior” all a district attorney needs to show is that a woman behaved in a manner that is thought to cause miscarriage, even if she didn’t intend to lose the pregnancy.

How common are miscarriages?

Miscarriage occurs in about 15-20% of all recognized pregnancies, and usually occurs before the 13th week of pregnancy. The actual percentage of miscarriages is estimated to be as high as 50% of all pregnancies, since many miscarriages occur without the woman ever having known she was pregnant.

Earlier today contributor Percat pointed to a post about how Nicaragua's extreme abortion laws are killing a cancer patient. The Utah law probably won't kill any women, but if it's somehow enforced as written, it's outrageously strict and invasive. It's not like most miscarriages are intentional or even controllable. For most women, as I understand it (speaking humbly as a guy here), it can be a very wrenching or upsetting event... so accusing them of a crime is about the last thing they need. I see how there were maybe some good intentions behind the law, i.e. trying to stop forced miscarriages through violence especially by the male in the relationship, but I would guess that a loosening of the abortion restrictions already in place would go a long way toward correcting the problem without such a drastic unintended consequence. And in that statement I'm assuming it was unintended, but since they didn't write a loophole for ordinary miscarriages, despite people pointing out the consequence, I think it's fair to label them extremists.