Chaos Causing "California Human Rights Amendment" in AG's Office

The California Human Rights Amendment is a ballot proposition which is currently in the Attorney General's office for review prior to being circulated.  The proposition simply says, "The term 'person' applies to all living human organisms from the beginning of their biological development - regardless of the means by which they were procreated, method of reproduction, age, race, sex, gender, physical well-being, function or condition of physical or mental dependency and/or disability."

In other words, all life begins at conception.

And every California and Federal statute about "persons" applies to the newly conceived from the moment they were conceived.  Thinks about what this really means.  

How Many Women Will Actually Be Effected by this Law?

Any woman of child bearing age (from puberty until menopause is finally completed) will be covered.  That means most women between the ages of 10 and 60 could be subject to enhanced legal scrutiny under this proposition.

The March of Dimes estimates as many as 50% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage before the woman realizes she is pregnant. About 15% more pregnancies end in a miscarriage once the pregnancy is known. Under this proposition, all of these women would face potential legal consequences because they killed a person when they miscarried.  

Miscarriages Could Lead to Manslaughter and Murder Charges 

Under this proposition, a miscarriage becomes a reportable death requiring a death certificate to be issued.  It won't matter if the miscarriage is after one day or 270 days, a death is still a death and requires a death certificate issued by a doctor or the medical examiner.  If the death is unattended, meaning you are not in a hospital or under the care of a physician willing to attest to the cause of death, the death needs to be investigated to determine if criminal negligence was involved.  If you do not report the death for investigation, you could be charged with criminal conspiracy to conceal a potential crime. Either way, the police and medical examiner become involved in investigating your miscarriage.

The other issue that arises is when is a miscarriage manslaughter and when is it murder under this proposition?  If you smoke while pregnant, even if you don't know you are pregnant, does that make the miscarriage manslaughter or murder because smoking is a known risk to pregnant women?  If you go snowboarding while pregnant, fall (a common occurrence) and miscarry several days later, is it manslaughter or murder because you risked falling during snowboarding while pregnant? 

And, a final indiginity.  If you're diagnosed with a medical condition, such as lupus or a cardiac condition, your doctor advises you against pregnancy, and you choose to become pregnant and miscarry, is this murder because you took actions which knowingly could lead to the death of another person?

Medical Care for Pregnant Women Becomes Legal Thicket

Under this proposition, medical professionals face a steep legal challenge:

 anything they do that could be determined to have caused a miscarriage could lead to manslaughter or murder charges for the medical team. Medical professionals treating pregnant women face dealing with police investigations any time a patient miscarries because the police need to investigate to determine the cause of death.  

Some tests, like amniocentesis, would become highly problematic under this proposition because of the risk of potential miscarriage and the legal consequences.  The woman and her doctor would have to decide if it was worth risking manslaughter or murder charges arising from a miscarriage to obtain a medical diagnosis.

Birth Control Pills and IUD's Become Illegal 

Some forms of birth control, like hormonal pills and IUD's, can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting.  Under this law, birth control pills, IUD's and any other device which could prevent an egg from implanting would be illegal. Condoms would be the only non-surgical form of birth control available.  Tubal ligation, vasectomy and hysterectomy would be still be available as birth control.  Birth control effectively becomes illegal under this proposition.

In Vitro Fertilization Becomes Virtually Illegal

During in vitro fertilization, multiple eggs are fertilized.  Fertilized embryos which are not being implanted during the current cycle are typically frozen for use in future cycles.  Under this proposition, freezing embryos becomes illegal because it is illegal to freeze a living person.  Fertility doctors would be faced with a difficult choice - only fertilize and implant one egg at a time, which drives the cost of fertility treatments out of reach of most couples desiring assistance having children, or implant all the fertilized embryos.  High multiple pregnancies like Nadya Suleman and Kate Goselin may become more common, along with the birth defects and parenting problems that commonly arise.

Tax Deductions for Children Start at Conception

The tax codes, Federal and State, allow for deductions for dependent children.  If personhood begins at conception, the tax deduction for a child begins at conception. Tax deductions for dependents are for the whole year, regardless of when a child is born. So, if you conceive a baby in late December, you get a tax deduction for that entire year.  And, if you are unfortunate enough to miscarry in early January the following year, you would get a tax deduction for that child for the entire year.  

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Comments

[Yasmeen]

This proposed amendment is insane. Are people really behind this? If this passes I have lost all hope!

[Austin Nedved]

First of all, miscarriage are extremely common. If a woman miscarried, there would be no reason to believe that that it was brought about intentionally. There's also this legal doctrine called "intent", meaning that unintentionally miscarrying would not be a criminal offense. We wouldn't even prosecute women who have illegal abortions, so it's really a moot point anyway. It's the abortionist who would be prosecuted.

I don't see amniocentesis being banned. It only increases the chance of miscarriage very slightly. But you are absolutely right about IFV - it would be banned.

Birth control would not be completely illegal. NFP would be legal, and it is as effective as any other method of contraception.

Tax deductions would not begin at conception, they would begin at birth. Being eligible for a tax deduction is an accidental property of personhood that begins at birth.

[Sabrina Drill-esque]

Yasmeen, interesting comment about miscarriage and intent - claiming that unintentional miscarriages could not be considered murder.

But wouldn't a trial be necessary to prove intent? What if a healthy, fit woman in her 2nd trimester chose, with the advice of her doctor, to go running, then miscarried? Could someone accuse her of content, and spark an investigation even if it did not result in conviction?

Even without conviction, wouldn't a trial be devastating to a woman who had just lost a wanted pregnancy?

[Sabrina Drill-esque]

Sorry, I should have addressed that to Austin.