Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Special stillborn certificates

Via Alternet:

I just read that there's a movement to award stillborn fetuses a special certificate, a certificate of stillborn birth instead of just a death certificate. It was started by
Joanne Cacciatore [who] delivered a stillborn fetus, a trauma that was compounded by the fact that she received a death certificate in the mail but no birth certificate -- a tangible memento she said would have helped her grieve.

Motivated by her loss, she mounted a grassroots campaign in her home state of Arizona to get the government to give parents who deliver stillborn fetuses the option of receiving a "certificate for stillborn birth" -- and in so doing unintentionally waded into the turbulent waters of abortion politics.

Although reproductive rights advocates say they sympathize with Cacciatore, they also fear her effort -- which has since ballooned into a nationwide campaign -- could aid anti-choice groups as they attempt to chip away at or eliminate abortion rights. "There's no question in my mind that the anti-abortion crowd will look for some way to use this," Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, has said. At issue is the question of "personhood," or when human life begins; the answer lies at the heart of the debate over abortion.
Read the rest of the article here.

theteach

1 comment:

Dr. Joanne Cacciatore said...

I wonder your thoughts on this...