Indiana legislators proposed legislation last week that would make any method of causing pregnancy other than sexual intercourse a Class B misdemeanor. Thus, if the Virgin Mary gave birth to baby Jesus in Bethlehem, Ind., she could be criminally prosecuted under the proposed legislation.
In order to legally become pregnant by a method other than sexual intercourse under the proposed legislation, a couple would have to file a petition for parentage in their local county probate court before undergoing infertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilization. These so-called gestational certificates would only be issued to married couples who undergo the same screening process as adoptive parents.
Disregarding the fact that procedures such as IVF are expensive and extremely intimate affairs, these lawmakers had obvious ulterior motives in mind. Senator Patricia Miller defended the bill by admitting that it would bar single women and same-sex couples from having children: “All the studies indicate the best environment for a child is to have a two-parent family-a mother and a father.” With such extreme requirements on the books, politicians like sponsoring Senator Miller would finally be able to sleep at night with the assurance that children would only be born to wealthy, straight, religious, married couples.
For me, however, this idea is ludicrous. First, the idea of limiting access to legal medical services based on arbitrary factors, such as marital status and personal morality, is quite disturbing. Second, the bill’s intended effect of restricting procreation to those who are judged by the government to be worthy of parentage is impractical (not to mention reprehensible). Last but not least, it would be almost entirely unenforceable. Would single pregnant women be forced to prove that they did have sex and did not use IVF when the cops weren’t looking?
Unfortunately for legislators who share Senator Miller’s ideology, after a day full of public outrage, publicity and embarrassment, Miller issued this statement: “The issue has become more complex than anticipated and will be withdrawn from consideration by the Health Finance Commission.” Fortunately for the taxpayers of Indiana, no more state money will be wasted on this ridiculous legislation.
Although the idea has been shelved for now, it has planted seeds of thought throughout the nation. Perhaps other states won’t feel the need to restrain themselves from giving life to Margaret Atwood’s fictional nightmare by creating a nation in which women are reduced to nothing more than walking uteri. It has already become clear that if conservative lawmakers had their way, then Big Brother would be a fixture in every bedroom.