Anti-Female Legislation: Part of the Continuum of Violence Against Women

Three Ohio legislators plan on filing a bill that would require women who miscarry or abort to cremate or bury the fetus.  Significantly, the drafters made no attempt to appear gender neutral.  They have placed the burden for cremation or burial exclusively on mothers.  Misogyny undisguised.  The legislators gave no thought to the trauma that women can experience when miscarriage occurs.  Whether an abortion is spontaneous or planned, many women struggle with the often difficult decisions and emotions that surround both.  Disregard toward women is exposed in this bill, as is the assumption that women alone are responsible for their pregnancies.  

In what appears to be an unintended offense, the bill ignores the reality for many men, as well.  Men often participate with their partners in decision making on whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term. Men also suffer when unwanted miscarriage occurs. 

The legislators are not original, however, because Arkansas and Indiana have already passed similar laws.  The legislators took up the cause once Attorney General Mike DeWine was proven wrong on his claims around Planned Parenthood's fetal donation program.  Searching for a way to keep fetus disposal alive as a political issue, these legislators took up the cause in promoting the cremation or burial scheme.  DeWine moved on to claims that Planned Parenthood is disposing of fetus in landfills. Planned Parenthood has had enough.  The organization obtained an injunction against DeWine from taking any action to block its fetus disposal.

Perhaps these men are unable to see themselves as part of a global anti-female culture.  The New York Times reported on the sexual and other violence against Syrian women refugees as they attempt to make a new life in another country.  Women are victims of war in ways that men are not, notably because of the sexual violence they experience. Whether the abuse is sexual, physical or legislative, the ultimate impact, if not one goal, is to remove women's control over their bodies and their lives.  It is all one.