Think this “fertilized egg-as-person” thing hasn’t gone far enough? Welcome to Tennessee, where a bill in the House of Representatives is being expanded to allow prosecutors to charge someone for “death of an embryo” if a woman miscarries, or even has a period.

Via The Tennessean:

State law limited prosecutions to harming a “viable fetus,” defined as somewhere around the 32nd week after conception until last year, when the law was amended to apply to any fetus. But one of that law’s sponsors, Republican Rep. Joshua Evans of Greenbrier, said backers did not realize then that humans are not typically referred to as fetuses until the eighth week of development. Before that stage, they are usually known as embryos.

House Bill 3517 would extend the law specifically to embryos “at any state of gestation in utero.”

“We’re talking about clarifying. We’re not talking about changing the law,” Evans said.

Embryo does refer to any stage of gestation before the 8th week. And that’s the problem.  How exactly do you prove that a miscarriage happened as a result of a crime? Or that she wasn’t just late? Or miscarrying on her own?

With so many potential issues to enforcing the legislation if it becomes law, it’s hard to see this as anything but a bill meant to validate the idea of a fertilized egg as a person.

Bottom line: Your miscarriage could land you in jail. Think this is far-fetched? Read this.