In their quest to punish and shame all women who obtain safe and legal abortions, Republicans in state legislatures across the country are introducing “Fetal Burial” Bills, which make it a legal requirement that women inform any facility that assists them in terminating their pregnancy whether they want the fetus “cremated” or “buried.” The facility must then pay for either one of these “choices.” In states such as Ohio, this process requires a “death certificate” that could then become a public record.
From Think Progress:
"Fetal burial" bills like Ohio's have begun to make a significant appearance in the legislative sessions of conservative-led states -- states that have already passed nearly every restriction possible to restrict a woman's access to an abortion. Kellie Copeland, director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, said this is a technique to keep the anti-abortion debate front and center, regardless of the need for this particular policy.
"The purpose is really just to keep the anti-abortion narrative going at state capitols, and talk about how abortion providers are not doing the right things in some people's eyes," Copeland said. "And let's be clear. Burial and cremation laws are only intended to shame women for their decision."
The country’s most powerful anti-abortion group calls itself “Americans United For Life.” It acts as a drafting mill (like ALEC) for anti-women legislation that is fed to Republican lawmakers at the state level. With many Democrats choosing to “sit out” critical state elections in the 2010 and 2014 midterms, the Republican Party swept to victory in state legislatures and proceeded to introduce more anti-abortion measures at the state level—where it matters—than at any other time in history. Since many Republicans, particularly those who identify with the “Tea Party,” don’t have too many brain cells to rub together in the first place, the AUL is where they go to get the legal language they need for such bills:
Many states are using eerily similar language to drive fetal burials bill through their legislatures. The identical legislation is no coincidence: The text is copied and pasted directly from AUL's website. AUL functions as a legislation mill for anti-abortion lawmakers, enabling them to "easily introduce bills without needing to research and write the bills themselves," according to the organization's website.
Thus far at least five states have these bills percolating through their legislatures’ current sessions.
In some cases, this would mean a woman who took an abortion pill a couple months into a pregnancy would be asked if she wanted a quarter-sized blood clot to be formally buried. She would then get a death certificate.
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"None of this has to do with public health. It's harassment," Copeland said.
According to Think Progress, the genesis for these laws was inspired by Republican Ohio Attorney general Mike DeWine. When the right’s fraudulent attempt to smear Planned Parenthood with doctored videos purporting to reveal the sale of “body parts” blew up in their face, with the proponents of the fraud indicted and his state’s “investigation” turning up nothing, DeWine scrambled to divert attention by claiming that fetuses were disposed of “in landfills” among residential garbage. He also claimed fetuses were “steam cooked,” deliberately invoking a grisly image for a practice common to every public hospital of disinfecting and disposing of biological remains. The AUL then eagerly responded with yet another fiendish way to harass women forced to make what is often an agonizing decision about terminating their pregnancies.
Ohio state law currently requires a burial permit to bury or cremate remains, and permits are only issued upon provision of a death certificate with the mother’s name on it. TP notes that the requirement that the fetus be afforded a “death certificate” would result in a governmental registry of the names of all women who have had an abortion, allowing for the possibility of continued harassment by the government or others. When someone pointed this inconvenient fact out, GOP lawmakers quickly redrafted the bill to create a “special” permit that simply omits the woman’s name, but still requires the woman to submit to yet another attempt to harass and inflict guilt on them for the procedure.
The Republican lawmakers backing these laws say they are intended to preserve the “dignity” of the fetus. Which is another way of saying they couldn’t care less about the dignity of women.