BlogHer - Right to Life or Pro-Choice: Is it now a crime to have a miscarriage? - Comments

Thanks

mama2bna — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:25:52 -0600

Thank you, thank you so much.
Amanda
http://toddlywinks.blogspot.com
http://lifewithbriar.blogspot.com

Having a miscarriage and still being pregnant.

Catherine Morgan — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:06:31 -0600

I can totally understand what you are going through, and I have great compassion for you.

Seventeen years ago, after having had many miscarriages, I was pregnant again. And once again, a few weeks into my pregnancy, I began to have severe pain and bleeding. Of course, I thought I was having another miscarriage.

But this time when I went to the hospital they told me I "MAY" be having another miscarriage, but they couldn't be completely sure with the ultrasound. I was sent home on complete bed rest (I could only get up to go to the bathroom and be driven to doctors appointments). Every week I was getting blood work and ultrasounds, and each time they told me that my HCG levels were not high enough to sustain a pregnancy...And they wouldn't give me a picture when I got my ultrasounds because they said the pregnancy wasn't viable.

Finally, just before my third month my blood work was normal, and they told me the fetus was viable. I was still considered a high-risk pregnancy, but I didn't have to stay on bed rest. At that time, I didn't concern myself with why I had what appeared to be a miscarriage, but I was still pregnant...I was just thanking God that I was still pregnant.

I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.

At my first post-pregnancy OB/GYN visit, it finally occurred to me to ask why. Why they "thought" I was having a miscarriage, and I had all the symptoms of a miscarriage...but I ended up having a beautiful healthy baby boy?

The doctor told me...I was most likely pregnant with twins at the beginning of my pregnancy, and for some reason my body "aborted" one pregnancy but not the other. At that point it was obviously much easier to focus on the blessings of my new baby, rather than on the loss of one. But, it is something I wonder about from time to time...even now.

I imagine it must be so much more difficult to get news like this while you are still pregnant. My personal advice to you would be...Don't let the feelings of this loss stop you from being able to enjoy your pregnancy.

I wish you all the best.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at CatherineBlogs.com and The Political Voices of Women

Not a baby

mama2bna — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:55:31 -0600

I recently had an ob visit at 10 weeks. After a disconcerting ultrasound proces I was unceremoniously informed that they had discovered a second sac, as I processed the significance of this news, the woman told me blandly that it was little more than a blood clot.

Then there was some hazy advice about potential bleeding etc and a quick fare thee well. I left feeling as if I shouldn't be upset, a vanishing twin...nothing more than a bloodclot, but the impact of the potential of two lives hit me with the force of a locomotive.

After this experience, I realize it makes little difference what they call what is inside of us, or at what stage we lose it, the pain is clearly something the medical community and society are deeply ill equipped to address compassionately. My heart aches for this woman as it does for my baby that might have been, and the baby I still carry, worrying at each turn that something might go awry.

Thank you for this post.

Amanda
http://lifewithbriar.blogspot.com
http://toddlywinks.blogspot.com

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Catherine Morgan — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:57:10 -0600

I'm so sorry to hear about your miscarriage. Even though it's been over seventeen years since my last miscarriage, I can still remember the pain and despair I felt like it was yesterday.

I wish there were words that I could say that would minimize the pain you are feeling right now...But, I know there are none.

Thank you for sharing your feelings and experience, I know that must have been very hard for you.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at CatherineBlogs.com and The Political Voices of Women

Lucky to get it called a fetus.

BusyLife — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:47:33 -0600

I miscarried last week. The pregnancy was 10 weeks along, the baby died at 9 weeks.
I was so delirious and confused, and in hospital when it happened.
Not a single ONE of the medical staff would even refer to what came out of me as a fetus, let alone a baby.
The name some clever so and so thought of to use is 'products of conception'
I was really upset and angry they would not tell me what the 'evacuated products' contained, I just wanted to know I had miscarried the baby as that is what I really did not want to do at home.

Miscarriage is so common yet it seems to be the last taboo. How many of our forbears had to go through this awful event with no one to talk to. But things do not seem to be much better now, either here in the UK or in the USA.

What?

ShawnsBidness — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:03:24 -0500

Can it be that they just don't "get it"? Maybe the police department needs some medical advice on how women can have miscarriages on the toilet? Sorry to be so graphic but yes I'm angry.

I've had three miscarriages and it is so hard to deal with even today. I don't know if that is why I'm that upset. But I doubt it. How can there be such ignorance in this day and age?

Connie
Brain Foggles
My Chronic Life

Looks like some more people

Czarina — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:03:56 -0500

Looks like some more people are confused -- A Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel, not a manual.

Stylefool

Thanks for your comment...

Catherine Morgan — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:25:58 -0500

I had never heard of anything like this before yesterday, and I am just shocked that this is, or ever was a legal issue. I just don't get it.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at Women 4 Hope and Informed Voters

A couple of years ago, there

CFO — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:04:46 -0500

A couple of years ago, there was a law in Virginia (proposed, not passed, I think) that required the death of a fetus to be reported to law enforcement. As I recall, there was no "exception" for miscarriages - simply a statement from the legislator who had proposed the law that the law obviously wasn't intended to encompass such situations. (And yes, having had two miscarriages myself, I do understand that the wounds are still there. I'm very sorry for your losses.)

Hi Rachel

Catherine Morgan — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:10:21 -0500

I know what you mean, it's a scary thought. What ever happened to a woman's right to privacy?

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at Women 4 Hope and Informed Voters

The emotional trama of a miscarriage is devastating.

Catherine Morgan — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:37:51 -0500

Thanks for sharing your feelings about this story. For the sake of the woman involved in this, I hope they never find her.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at Women 4 Hope and Informed Voters

A slippery slope indeed.

Catherine Morgan — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:57:46 -0500

The RU-486 aspect of this issue is also troubling...What if they hunt this poor woman down and find she had used RU-486? Even if they don't charge her with a crime (which I don't see how they could)...Can you imagine what would happen to this woman's life if her name was made public?

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at Women 4 Hope and Informed Voters

I agree...

Catherine Morgan — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 11:33:24 -0500

I agree...Ugh, Ugh, Ughhhhhh!

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at Women 4 Hope and Informed Voters

Scary

Rachel — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 08:22:17 -0500

Catherine, thank you for linking to my post. The idea of police soliciting tips from the public and calling hospitals to track down any woman who might have sought care in order to find what is probably some poor, devastated woman who miscarried really frightens me. Is this where we are now? Women can't suffer a private tragedy without fearing the police knocking on their doors?

Waste of resources

Suzanne Reisman — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 07:33:41 -0500

I don't think that you are oversensitive. I;ve never had a miscarriage, but find this whole incident repulsive and shameful. Why would anyone waste the resources and time to autopsy this? And what will they do with the answers? You are right that this is a dangerous and extremely sick slippery slope. Under no definition has a crime been committed here, and yet the reaction is such that you think once they figure out where this fetus came from, they'll haul the woman in for questioning. Whether she spontaneously miscarried or used RU-486, what's the difference? Nothing illegal has happened.

We live in a society that is extremely demented when it comes to "valuing" life. This dead fetus is being given more medical attention than many poor children receive. If we really value life, we'd direct our resources towards living kids.

Suzanne, BlogHer Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

Right to Life or Pro-Choice: Is it now a crime to have a miscarriage?

Catherine Morgan — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 00:19:09 -0500

I didn't have something specific to blog about for todays post, I've been a bit preoccupied with my daughter this week (I'll tell you more at the end of this post, if you're interested), so I decided to Google women's health for ideas.

The first thing I noticed was a post about Women's Health Month at Cleveland State, but when I clicked on the link, it said the article couldn't be found. Admittedly, I'm a bit impatient, so rather than try to locate this article I moved on.

September is also Healthy Aging Month, National Cholesterol Education Month, Childhood Cancer Month, National Sickle Cell Month, and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, just to name a few, and I'll probably post on some of these throughout the month. But, what I decided to post about today was a story from Rachel, at Women's Health News.

The post is titled Miscarriage or Crime? At first I didn't even want to read it. I've had several miscarriages before I had my two successful pregnancies, and even though they were over sixteen years ago, the emotional pain is still fresh. If you have suffered a miscarriage you will understand what I am talking about. But, I did decide to read this post, and it was even more disturbing than I could have imagined. Maybe I am just oversensitive because of my personal history, but this story made me soooo mad.

Here it is, let me know what you think...

Small Fetus Found In Morgantown Sewer

Police are searching for the mother of a small fetus found by utility workers at a sewage pump station Monday in Morgantown, W.Va.

Here is the local news footage of this story...

The fetus will be sent to the state medical examiner's office in Charleston for an autopsy to determine race, sex and age.

Honestly..."Are you kidding me?" Have we maybe taken this "right to life" issue a little too far, when a woman can't even have a miscarriage without first being suspected of a crime? And it makes the news, no less??? Will woman having miscarriages at least be innocent until proven guilty? What is the crime here anyway...The woman did something to "cause" the miscarriage? Isn't there enough psychological damage that a woman goes through after a miscarriage, without her being "blamed" for it too? Do we really need to hunt her down like a common criminal for an explanation?

This is really one of the most disgusting, disrespectful things I have heard in a long time. I can not believe that this news station, is actually covering this story as if it is some kind of homicide investigation. They should be ashamed of themselves. What's next for investigative journalism? I'm not even going to venture a guess.

Okay, there really isn't anything more for me to say about this...I would like to know what others think of this disturbing story though. Are women who have had a miscarriage more angry about this than a woman who has not? Do you think this is really some sort of crime? And, if it's a crime to have a miscarriage...What should the punishment be???

On a brighter note. I alluded to my preoccupation with my daughter this past week, and I'm excited to tell all of you why. It goes without saying that both of my children make me very proud, they are both good kids and do well in school. But, on Wednesday, my daughter (13) asked me to help her do something very special. She wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps, and start her very own blog. Wow. My heart skips a beat now, every time she comes home excited about another idea she has for a post. And, she's good too. Don't take my word for it, check it out yourself. The name of her blog is "Princess and Her Pets", she hasn't even been blogging for a full week yet, and she already has 795 hits from all over the world. THAT'S MY GIRL!!!

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at Women 4 Hope and Informed Voters