Power

“Fetal Remains” Bill Pleases Anti-Choice, Traumatizes Women Who Miscarry

A Michigan law meant to regulate products of conception post-abortion will likely force victims of miscarriage to immediately decide what to "do with the baby."

When Michigan anti-choicers claimed they found “fetal remains” in a dumpster at an abortion clinic, state Republicans quickly stepped up to push a bill legislating how products of conception could be discarded.

In the end, it turns out that there was no proof of mishandled remains.  But a law was proposed regardless, and because of it, one of the first questions that may be asked of a woman who just miscarried or had a still birth is likely to be “what do you want to do with the fetus?”

Via the Detroit News:

“I think some women will be devastated,” says Joanne Mulhere, who counsels women undergoing loss of pregnancies at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, where about 175 women lose pregnancies through miscarriage or stillbirth annually.

Patients would be handed Kleenex, as well as a form to sign, requesting the remains be cremated, buried or interred.

They’ll be forced to make a potentially emotional choice that will, for some women, redefine how they think and feel.

It’s a “choice” that effectively reframes the way women are supposed to think about early pregnancy, imposing new opportunities for grief where none might have existed.

Unfortunately, Michigan legislators have crafted a bill that’s more sensitive to the needs of tissue that fits in a tablespoon than to grown women who, at vulnerable moments, will face a new form to sign, an unsought, disturbing decision to make.

Yet another thoughtless bill with unintended consequences that will hurt more women.