Miller issued a one-sentence statement Wednesday saying: “The issue has become more complex than anticipated and will be withdrawn from consideration by the Health Finance Commission.” Miller chairs the committee, which is meeting this month to vote on legislative recommendations for next year's legislative "short session" and to examine how big a steak the legislative per diem will buy at St. Elmo's.
The proposed bill defined assisted reproduction as "causing pregnancy by means other than sexual intercourse, including intrauterine insemination, donation of an egg, donation of an embryo, in vitro fertilization and transfer of an embryo, and sperm injection." Various details, such as the status of a farm girl impregnated by a bullet ricocheting off the testicle of a nearby Confederate soldier, were yet to be hammered out.
Potential parents would have been required to prove they were married--to each other--and those who could not provide the necessary sperm and egg combo platter on their own would have been required to complete an assessment similar to that required of adoptive parents. From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:
Some of the required information includes the fertility history of the parents, education and employment information, hobbies, personality descriptions, verification of marital status, child care plans, letter of reference and criminal history checks.
A description of the family lifestyle of the intended parents is also required, including individual participation in faith-based or church activities.
I don't know the percentage of outright loons on the Health Finance Commission, but if this thing had a chance of being recommended out of committee it wasn't going anywhere, not in an election year, not even in Indiana, where, frankly, we don't cotton to people sticking their noses in our you know whats when they're busy you know where. Still, the instantaneous spaying of Sen. Miller comes as something of a surprise; this sort of thing used to get a long lead before being yanked back to its own yard.
folks were all over this bill over at tbogg's site.
ReplyDeletei told them there was no way that this would ever get out of committee. i thought it was my duty as a resident of this state.
say what you want about the powers that be in this state's gop party -- at least -- the very least -- the party hasn't been taken over by evangelical protestant loons.
yet.
farm girl impregnated by a bullet ricocheting off the testicle of a nearby Confederate soldier
ReplyDeleteDid you see that episode of Mythbusters or did you learn of this story elsewhere?
How to explain this legislation.. was Miller left at the altar by a turkey baster or something? How to explain this legislation..
ReplyDeleteThorlac, though I'm not sure I hadn't caught a whiff of it earlier, I first became aware that the story was actually out there, and believed, when I saw Tom Waits' Big Time (the greatest concert film ever, btw):
ReplyDelete"A lot of people come up to me and they say, 'Tom, is it possible for a woman to get pregnant without intercourse?' And my answer is always the same, I say, look, we're gonna have to go all the way back to the Civil War..."