by nomo » Wed Oct 05, 2005 2:56 pm
<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.boomantribune.com/?op=displaystory;sid=2005/10/3/223530/406">www.boomantribune.com/?op...223530/406</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>The Crime of "Unauthorized Reproduction"<br>New law will require marriage as a legal condition of motherhood<br><br>By Laura McPhee<br><br>Republican lawmakers are drafting new legislation that will make<br>marriage a requirement for motherhood in the state of Indiana,<br>including specific criminal penalties for unmarried women who do<br>become pregnant "by means other than sexual intercourse."<br><br>According to a draft of the recommended change in state law, every<br>woman in Indiana seeking to become a mother throu gh assisted<br>reproduction therapy such as in vitro fertilization, sperm donation,<br>and egg donation, must first file for a "petition for parentage" in<br>their local county probate court.<br><br>Only women who are married will be considered for the "gestational<br>certificate" that must be presented to any doctor who facilitates the<br>pregnancy. Further, the "gestational certificate" will only be given<br>to married couples that successfully complete the same screening<br>process currently required by law of adoptive parents.<br><br>As it the draft of the new law reads now, an intended parent "who<br>knowingly or willingly participates in an artificial reproduction<br>procedure" without court approval, "commits unauthorized<br>reproduction, a Class B misdemeanor." The criminal charges will be<br>the same for physicians who commit "unauthorized practice of<br>artificial reproduction."<br><br>The change in Indiana law to require marriage as a condition for<br>motherhood and criminalizing "unauthorized reproduction" was<br>introduced at a summer meeting of the Indiana General Assembly's<br>Health Finance Commission on September 29 and a final version of the<br>bill will come up for a vote at the next meeting at the end of this<br>month.<br><br>Republican Senator Patricia Miller is both the Health Finance<br>Commission Chair and the sponsor of the bill. She believes the new<br>law will protect children in the state of Indiana and make parenting<br>laws more explicit.<br><br>According to Sen. Miller, the laws prohibiting surrogacy in the<br>state of Indiana are currently too vague and unenforceable, and that<br>is the purpose of the new legislation.<br><br>"But it's not just surrogacy," Miller told NUVO. " The law is vague<br>on all types of extraordinary types of infertility treatment, and we<br>wanted to address that as well."<br><br>"Ordinary treatment would be the mother's egg and the father's<br>sperm. But now there are a lot of extraordinary thing s that raise<br>issues of who has legal rights as parents," she explained when asked<br>what she considers "extraordinary" infertility treatment.<br><br>Sen. Miller believes the requirement of marriage for parenting is<br>for the benefit of the children that result from infertility<br>treatments.<br><br>"We did want to address the issue of whether or not the law should<br>allow single people to be parents. Studies have shown that a child<br>raised by both parents - a mother and a father - do better. So, we<br>do want to have laws that protect the children," she explained.<br><br>When asked specifically if she believes marriage should be a<br>requirement for motherhood, and if that is part of the bill's<br>intention, Sen. Miller responded, "Yes. Yes, I do."<br><br>A draft of the legislation is available on the Health Finance<br>Commission website<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.in.gov/legislative/interim/committee/prelim/HFCO04.pdf">www.in.gov/legislative/in...HFCO04.pdf</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>The next meeting of the Health Finance Commission will be held a t<br>the Statehouse on October 20, 2005 at 10 am in Senate Chambers and<br>is open to the public.<br><br>To express your support or opposition of legislation<br>making "unauthorized reproduction" a criminal act, contact members<br>of the Health Finance Commission by telephone or email:<br><br>Sen. Patricia Miller (R) 232-9489 s32@...<br>Sen. Gregory Server (R) 232-9490 s50@...<br>Sen. Gary Dillon (R) 232-9808 s17@...<br>Sen. Beverly Gard (R) 232-9493 s28@...<br>Sen. Ryan Mishler (R) 233-0930 s9@...<br>Sen. Connie Lawson (R) 232-9984 s24@...<br>Sen. Marvin Riegsecker (R) 232-9488 s12@...<br>Sen. Billie Breaux (D) 232-9849 s34@...<br>Sen. Vi Simpson (D) 232-9849 s40@...<br>Sen. Connie Sipes (D) 232-9526 s46@...<br>Sen. Timothy Skinner (D) 232-9523 s38@...<br>Rep. Vaneta Becker (R) 232-9769 h78@...<br>Rep. Robert Behning (R) 232-9981 h91@...<br>Rep. Timothy Brown (R) 234-3825 h41@...<br>Rep.Mary Kay Budak(R) 232-9641 h20@...<br>Rep. Da vid Frizzell (R) 232-9981 h93@...<br>Rep. Donald Lehe (R) 232-9648 h15@...<br>Rep. Richard Dodge (R) 232-9729 h51@...<br>Rep. Charlie Brown (D) 232-9676 h3@...<br>Rep. David Orentlicher (D) 232-9991 h86@...<br>Rep. Craig Fry (D) 232-9994 h5@...<br>Rep. Carolene Mays (D) 232-0243 h94@...<br>Rep. Scott Reske (D) 232-9695 h37@...<br><br>props to Indiana Green at <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.progressiveindependent.com">www.progressiveindependent.com</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Considering the plans to dump Roe vs Wade and ban Plan B, this is<br>essentially an Unauthorized Sexual Intercourse bill.<br><br>Just a misdemeanor, understand, in their compassion they are<br>distinguishing themselves from the Taliban by not recommending<br>execution as penalty, for the woman, naturally, boys will be boys and<br>all that.<br><br>But the most exciting element is that this could be another big step<br>toward educating American women that their bodies are the property of<br>the state, who shall be the sole determinant of how their organs of<br>generation shall be utilized, to what end, and by whom.<br><br>If married women prove unable to produce a sufficient number of<br>disposable Abu Ghraib guards, it could always be repealed. <p>--<br>When all else fails... panic.</p><i></i>
