Thursday, February 15, 2007

Tennessee Wants to Issue Death Certificates for Aborted Fetuses

In a move that is nothing more than an effort to shame women into not terminating unwanted pregnancies, Tennessee is proposing a law to require death certificates for aborted fetuses.
Legislation introduced in Tennessee would require death certificates for aborted fetuses, which likely would create public records identifying women who have abortions.

Rep. Stacey Campfield, a Republican, said his bill would provide a way to track how many abortions are performed. He predicted it would pass in the Republican-controlled Senate but would have a hard time making it through the Democratic House.

"All these people who say they are pro-life _ at least we would see how many lives are being ended out there by abortions," said Campfield.

The number of abortions reported to the state Office of Vital Records is already publicly available. The office collects records _ but not death certificates _ on abortions and the deaths of fetuses after 22 weeks gestation or weighing about 1 pound.

The identities of the women who have abortions are not included in those records, but death certificates include identifying information such as Social Security numbers.

Campfield's bill, introduced Monday, would give abortion providers 10 days following an "induced termination of a pregnancy" to file a death certificate.

House Judiciary Chairman Rob Briley, a Democrat, called Campfield's proposal "the most preposterous bill I've seen" in an eight-year legislative career.

"It is totally inconsistent with everything the law contemplates as it relates to anything close to that subject," he said.

Read the rest here.

This clearly violates the undue burden test of Roe v. Wade. What a load of horseshit.

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