Monday, March 12, 2012

The Scariest Side of Forced Birthers



There are more than one candidate for that label. But right now these stories might win the competition:
Rennie Gibbs is accused of murder, but the crime she is alleged to have committed does not sound like an ordinary killing. Yet she faces life in prison in Mississippi over the death of her unborn child.
Gibbs became pregnant aged 15, but lost the baby in December 2006 in a stillbirth when she was 36 weeks into the pregnancy. When prosecutors discovered that she had a cocaine habit – though there is no evidence that drug abuse had anything to do with the baby's death – they charged her with the "depraved-heart murder" of her child, which carries a mandatory life sentence.
Tut, tut. An unclean aquarium!

The linked article gives a fairly good summary of several similar cases. They all treat pregnant women with substance abuse problems or with mental problems as cold-hearted criminals who go as far as trying to commit suicide just so they can kill the fetus!

Imagine the world forced birthers want. Every problem in a pregnancy or childbirth could be fodder for an investigation into the behavior of the woman. What would the most likely response of any potentially at-risk woman be to that kind of policing?

Not to contact the health care system at all, I'd think. This is not a good outcome.