May 23, 2013
On March 14, 2009, 31 weeks into her pregnancy, Nina Buckhalter gave birth to a stillborn baby girl. She named the child Hayley Jade. Two months later, a grand jury in Lamar County, Mississippi, indicted Buckhalter for manslaughter, claiming that the then-29-year-old woman “did willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, kill Hayley Jade Buckhalter, a human being, by culpable negligence.”
The district attorney argued that methamphetamine detected in Buckhalter’s system caused Hayley Jade’s death. The state Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments on the case on April 2, is expected to rule soon on whether the prosecution can move forward.
If prosecutors prevail in this case, the state would be setting a “dangerous precedent” that “unintentional pregnancy loss can be treated as a form of homicide,” says Farah Diaz-Tello, a staff attorney with National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a nonprofit legal organization that has joined with Robert McDuff, a Mississippi civil rights lawyer, to defend Buckhalter. If Buckhalter’s case goes forward, NAPW fears it could spur a wave of similar prosecutions in Mississippi and other states.
Mississippi’s manslaughter laws were not intended to apply in cases of stillbirths and miscarriages. Four times between 1998 through 2002, Mississippi lawmakers rejected proposals that would have set specific penalties for damaging a fetus by using illegal drugs during pregnancy. But Mississippi prosecutors say that two other state laws allow them to charge Buckhalter. One definesof manslaughter as the “killing of a human being, by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another”; another includes ”an unborn child at every stage of gestation from conception until live birth” in the state’s definition of human beings.
The cause of any given miscarriage or stillbirth is difficult to determine, and many experts believe there is no conclusive evidence that exposure to drugs in utero can cause a miscarriage or stillbirth. Because of this, prosecuting Buckhalter opens the door to investigating and prosecuting women for any number of other potential causes of a miscarriage or stillbirth, her lawyers argued in a filing to the state Supreme Court—”smoking, drinking alcohol, using drugs, exercising against doctor’s orders, or failing to follow advice regarding conditions such as obesity or hypertension.” Supreme Court Justice Leslie D. King also raised this question in the oral arguments last month: “Doctors say women should avoid herbal tea, things like unpasteurized cheese, lunch meats. Exactly what are the boundaries?”
The list of things pregnant people aren’t supposed to do is a mile long.
Did you know drinking caffeine—especially in your first trimester—increases the risk for miscarriage? So if you drink 2 cups of coffee a day instead of 1 in your first trimester, and you have a miscarriage—which may or may not even be related, you have no way of knowing—someone could try you for murder.
If you’re in a car accident that was your fault, but not in any way intentional, and you lose your pregnancy, you could be tried for murder.
If you have gestational diabetes and you occasionally flub your diet because, I don’t know, being pregnant is totally miserable and sometimes food makes you feel better, and you end up having to deliver your baby early and it doesn’t survive, you could be tried for murder.
You eat a sandwich with lunch meat that wasn’t kept properly, get sick, and have a miscarriage. You could be tried for murder.
Not because you wanted your baby to die, but because you had the audacity to violate a 5-page list of don’ts your doctor gives you and it might in some way have impacted your pregnancy, but also possibly had no impact at all because pregnant people violate the rules all the time with no issues, and it resulted in losing your pregnancy. It’s your fault. You willfully and maliciously murdered your baby in cold blood because you failed to be an obedient, submissive incubator for a man’s unborn baby, who has more of a right to life than you do.
Women’s bodies or bodies perceived to be female are community property, and all this shit is about is controlling women and bringing them under male control.
This is an offensive absurdity.
Let’s start out simple with this post.
Haven’t we all heard it before?
-“I got bullied in school for being white. You can’t tell me that’s not racist!” No, this is called you being picked on by a mean child.
-“Someone called me cracker!” This is someone calling you by your privilege.
-“People can be racist against white people too.”
No, they cannot. There is an inherent logical fallacy in your argument that will never make it true. However, white people can be discrimated against. Discrimination is different from racism.
Let’s start from the beginning. Your first step is to accept that “a hatred or intolerance of another race” is not the definition of racism. The dictionary is wrong. Get over it.
Racism is when intolerance in government laws, attitudes and ideals of a society are ingrained in a culture to the point where patterns of discrimination towards a certain race are institutionalized as normal. If you keep this in mind, you’ll understand that reverse racism doesn’t- and can’t- exist.
There is another saying “Racism (or sexism) = prejudice + power. POC (people of color) can be prejudiced against white people. But they can never have power, i.e. a whole system of structured support that backs them. White people often don’t understand how much power they have. Just ONE white person has more power to do actual harm to a black person than one hundred black people do to that white person. A white person can KILL a black person without any consequences, while if the situation was reversed you can bet the killer wouldn’t see the outside of a prison cell for a long, long time.
When white people complain about reverse racism, they are not complaining about losing their RIGHTS. What they are complaining about is losing their PRIVILEGE.
White people can never call someone else racist against them because that ‘someone else’ does not have the power to OPPRESS them. The person has the power to be mean.To hurt feelings.But not to OPPRESS.
THAT is the key difference. When a POC is mean to you, they are JUST being mean to you. Their entire society is not ACTIVELY discriminating against and oppressing you. Their society is not one where it is difficult for them to not be racist against you.
But yours is. And you need to accept that.
In a video segment on ABC News, they say they were “thrilled” when their son — who has Asperger’s and other disabilities and struggled to make friends — appeared to have instantly made a friend named Daniel.
“Daniel,” however, was an undercover cop with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department who ” hounded” the teenager to sell him his prescription medication. When he refused, the undercover cop gave him $20 to buy him weed, and he complied — not realizing the guy he wanted to befriend wanted him behind bars.
(Source: miss-andrea)
I once argued with a white dude about why ‘people of color’ was better than ‘colored people.’ Short answer: BECAUSE WE SAID SO.
(Source: modernmonkeys)
What’s the difference?
I’d bet some people would describe “real” social justice as:
- protesting against horrible actions taken by oppressors
- feeding the poor and homeless
- donating to charity
- spreading the word so others can be aware
- making a framework to determine who needs help and then helping them
Well, let’s see what tumblr social justice does:
- protests against horrible actions taken by oppressors
- feeds the poor and homeless. I just recently sent someone who has been having trouble eating a BIG fucking thing of food. Is that enough SJ cred for you?
- donates to charity. Donates to charity where 100% of the money goes to the cause instead of maybe 12% like actual charities. Frankly, tumblr does this better!
- spreads the word so others can be aware. Hell, tumblr is fucking made for this. On top of that, tumblr also allows you to know of little known information that contributes to the pain and deaths of the oppressed.
- makes a framework to determine who needs help and then helps them. We already established that tumblr can feed people and give destitute people money to get past shit they’re dealing with. Then people talk. People explain their experiences and show studies to display how much their needs are ignored.
The only bonus to tumblr is that if you say some rude shit, people don’t let you get away with it. So that’s what makes it “fake”? You tried, pro-injustice. Your entire argument is that you got your feelings hurt so YOU don’t think that anyone “REAL” is getting helped. By separating yourself, you can make yourself feel good while oppressing those you don’t like even harder.
You can claim that tumblr SJ doesn’t care about “equality”. But neither does real SJ. It cares about justice. It’s not called “social equality”. It’s called “social JUSTICE”.
Anyway, your argument? It’s old. Old and tired as fuck. Dinosaurs were pulling shit like that, it’s so fucking aged.
See also:
Thin privilege is not having people do dangerous trials on you before you are even born!
Thin privilege is not thinking that it’s better for your baby to risk birth defects than be the same size as you.
“Unborn Babies Drugged in Mother’s Womb in Attempt to Prevent Obesity”:
whaaaat
*gets up*
*LEAVES PLANET*
Going in the mail! It’s a hedgehog hat! #crafting #hedgehog #knit #knitting #crochet #crocheting
19th Century Chinese Kingfisher Feather & Coral Earrings, 14K Wires, (sold)
These are as found, but were likely adapted into earrings from something else— probably a hair ornament. They work well as earrings though, and the color and sheen of the feathers is still incredibly vibrant.
