Have Miscarriage, Go to Jail?

I am so disgusted by this Virginia bill that I am having trouble typing a rational enough entry to get word out. The title is no joke, Republican Delegate John Cosgrove is trying to pass a bill which will essentialy criminalize women for having a sponteneous miscarriage and failing to report such a traumatic and intensely private experience to the police.

Failing to report a miscarriage to the police is to be classed as a class 1 misdemeanor. The article linked to above states:

"Does the punishment fit the “crime”?
Suffering a miscarriage is no crime, but Delegate Cosgrove wants to make it a crime for a woman to fail to violate her own privacy in the first 12 hours after a miscarriage, so let’s look at his proposed penalty.

Cosgrove's bill says, “A violation of this section shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.”

Let's see. What other crimes are punishable as Class 1 misdemeanors in Virginia? A cursory Google search reveals just a few...

A person 18 years of age or older engaging in consensual intercourse with a child 15 or older not his spouse, child or grandchild (more commonly known as "statutory rape")

burning or destroying a building or structure if the property therein is valued at less than $200 (arson)

a bomb threat made by someone younger than 15

carrying a concealed weapon while under the influence of drugs or alcohol

possession or distribution of fraudulent drivers’ licenses or official identification

stalking

threatening any public school employee while on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity

purchasing or providing alcohol to minors

So, Delegate Cosgrove is basically saying that failing to violate your own privacy within 12 hours of a miscarriage is the criminal equivalent of statutory rape, arson, stalking, and other serious crimes.

The authorized punishments for convictions for a Class 1 misdemeanor in Virginia are “confinement in jail for not more than 12 months and a fine of not more than $2500, either or both.” "

Please, get the word out, if you know anyone in Virginia, tell them what is trying to be passed and ask them to call their senator. Do not let somehting like this happen in a country that claims to base itself on principles of freedom of individuals.

Right now I have to go talk to my husband, who was lucky enough to get yelled at for trying to make nice conversation with me when I was busy re-living my own miscarriage of a couple of years ago and filled with inarticulate rage at the state of reproductive rights in this country.