Other Peoples' Lives

Ok, so a lot of people have been posting about the Mississippi Personhood amendment, which is pretty damn sickening in itself, but I've just come across another utterly horrific piece of legislature under consideration in the states.

That would be the H.R. 358 bill, which, among other things, overrides something called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. Under EMTALA, hospitals must stabilize a pregnant patient who, for example, is facing an emergency obstetric condition or life-threatening pregnancy and either treat her--including an emergency abortion--or if the hospital or staff objects, to transfer her to another facility that will treat her.

Even the staunchest anti-abortion people that I know (or have argued with on the internet) will make exceptions for situations where the mother's life is at stake. And yet this bill is attempting to overturn current legislature which guarantees that. 

Quite seriously, if this bill were to become law, it would be completely legal to leave pregnant women in labour to die, rather than perform an abortion that would save their life. 

I'll let that sink in.

Now try this one: This bill has PASSED in the house of Representatives. 

It has not yet gone before the senate, and Obama has (quite rightly) said that if the bill lands on his desk he will be exercising presidential veto, but the fact that this bill has, not only been proposed, but has gone this far is an enormity beyond words. 

I've just started watching Silk on the BBC - well, on i-player, like I watch just about everything these days, because our set-top-box is busted (and has been since Christmas) and I've not got round to getting it replaced yet.

And I'm actually rather impressed so far. I'm only 2 episodes in, but what I've seen is encouraging. It's very feminist in some senses - at least in the sense that it portrays just how subtly (and not-so-subtly) the odds are stacked against women in the legal profession (just as they are in all professions), and the kind of rough deals they get lumbered with. It's a drama series, so they don't get everything right, because they're following a story*, but so far they've managed to deal sympathetically and sensitively with issues of sexism, abortion and rape. Not perfectly, you understand, but issues were brought up, and handled without the usual cack-handedness. One or two statements, I still feel, should not have gone un-challenged or uncritically appraised, and there were a few moments when I thought "oh shit, they're going to drop the ball on this" - but the ball turned out to be a bombshell, and it worked. 
Personally, I think that some anvils need dropping, and they didn't quite do that, but all in all, it's worth a look, and I may well buy a copy of the DvD for my best mate (who happens to be a barrister) for her birthday...

Oh, and it's got Maxine Peak and Rupert Penry-Jones in it - always plus points :)




*example - one of the trials in the first episode should have been liable for a miss-trial or similar because the barrister brought up the defendant's previous... oops...