My blood. It boils.
Posted on 02/19/2009 03:58 pm by kagranju
I present for your horrified review, legislation actually being proposed here in Tennessee:
SB 1065 by Marrero B (HB 0890 by Hackworth)
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, relative to testing for certain substances in pregnant women.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1.Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, Chapter 5, is amended by adding Section 2 of this act as a new part thereto.
SECTION 2.
(a) The general assembly declares that, as a matter of public policy of this state and in
the interest of public health, pregnant women who abuse alcohol and drugs pose a risk to their unborn children. Pregnant women who meet certain criteria, as determined by the department, through rules and regulations duly promulgated in accordance with the provisions of the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, shall be tested for alcohol and drugs in order to encourage them to seek immediate treatment for an alcohol-related or drug-related problem.
(b) If the department levies a fee or charge for the cost of testing, it shall use the same billing and collection methods normally used by independent private laboratories. Any fee shall be waived for patients who are unable to pay.
(c) The department, in promulgating rules to implement this act, shall consider the following as indications of the necessity for alcohol or drug testing:
(1) No prenatal care;
(2) Late prenatal care after twenty-four (24) weeks gestation;
(3) Incomplete prenatal care;
(4) Abruptio placentae;
(5) Intrauterine fetal death;
(6) Preterm labor of no obvious cause;
(7) Intrauterine growth retardation of no obvious cause;
(8) Previously known alcohol or drug abuse; or
(9) Unexplained congenital anomalies.
(d) The commissioner of health is authorized to adopt rules, using criteria established by the United States department of health and human services as guidelines for modeling the drug and alcohol testing program pursuant to this act, concerning, but not limited to:
(1) Standards for licensing drug and alcohol testing laboratories and suspension and revocation of the licenses;
(2) Body specimens and minimum specimen amounts that are appropriate for drug or alcohol testing;
(3) Methods of analysis and procedures to ensure reliable drug or alcohol testing results, including the use of breathalyzers and standards for initial tests and confirmation tests;
(4) Minimum cut-off detection levels for alcohol, each drug or metabolites of the drug for the purposes of determining a positive test result;
(5) Chain-of-custody procedures to ensure proper identification, labeling and handling of specimens tested; and
(6) Retention, storage and transportation procedures to ensure reliable results on confirmation tests and retests.
(e) Prior to acting on the proposed rules to implement this chapter, the commissioner shall submit the proposed rules to the house health and human resources and the senate general welfare committees of the general assembly for their review and comment. The committees shall have forty-five (45) days to review the proposed rules and transmit any comment it may have to the commissioner.
(f) Any woman who tests positive for alcohol or drugs on a test administered pursuant to this chapter shall be referred to treatment for an alcohol-related or drug-related problem. Every physician, surgeon or other person permitted by law to attend a pregnant woman during gestation shall report each woman who refuses to seek treatment for an alcohol-related or drug-related problem or who misses two (2) or more appointments to the department of children’s services. Such reports shall be in a manner specified by the department, either by contacting a local representative of the department or by utilizing the department’s centralized intake procedure, where applicable.
(g) A health care provider who makes a report of alcohol or drug abuse, as required by subsection (f), shall not be liable in any civil or criminal action that is based solely upon such report.
(h) Nothing in this section shall be construed to confer any immunity upon a health care provider for a criminal or civil action arising out of the treatment of a woman about whom the report of alcohol or drug abuse was made.
(i) All information, interviews, reports, statements, memoranda and drug or alcohol test results, written or otherwise, received by the covered employer through a drug or alcohol testing program are confidential communications and may not be used or received in evidence, obtained in discovery or disclosed in any public or private proceedings, except in accordance with this section.
(j) Laboratories, medical review officers, employee assistance programs, drug or alcohol rehabilitation programs and their agents who receive or have access to information concerning drug or alcohol test results shall keep all information confidential. Release of the information under any other circumstance is authorized solely pursuant to a written consent form signed voluntarily by the person tested, unless the release is compelled by a hearing officer or a court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to an appeal taken under this section, relevant to a legal claim asserted by the employee or is deemed appropriate by a professional or occupational licensing board in a related disciplinary proceeding. The consent form must contain, at a minimum:
(1) The name of the person who is authorized to obtain the information;
(2) The purpose of the disclosure;
(3) The precise information to be disclosed;
(4) The duration of the consent; and
(5) The signature of the person authorizing release of the information.
(k) Information on drug or alcohol test results for tests administered pursuant to this act shall not be released or used in any criminal proceeding against the woman who was subject to the test. Information released contrary to this section is inadmissible as evidence in the criminal proceeding.
SECTION 3. For the purpose of promulgating rules and regulations, this act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it. For all other purposes this act shall take effect January 1, 2010, the public welfare requiring it.
Oh. My. GAWD.
So if this law is enacted, it means that any woman who suffers a miscarriage, stillbirth, or other serious pregnancy complications, or who gives birth to a disabled child, will face state-mandated drug testing.
I really can’t frame my own response to this vile legislation any better than fellow Tennessee blogger Aunt B already did, so I’ll just quote her here:
But here’s the best part. If your pregnancy just isn’t going right–the placenta comes open or the fetus dies or you go into labor early for no discernible reason, or the fetus isn’t growing fast enough, or the fetus has congenital anomalies–and let me remind you these are all things that just happen during pregnancies; things go wrong, for no reason, all the time–the State wants to drug test you.
And let’s say that they do. Let’s say that you start to miscarry. You have spotting and cramping and it’s pretty obvious and inevitable what’s going on. Maybe you have a bottle of wine to help you through. You’ve just done into labor early for no discernible reason and your fetus is dead for no discernible reason and when they drug test you, they’re going to find that you’ve been drinking.
What do you think is going to come of that?
This is what I mean when I say that the reproductive rights fight is going to be had on the bodies of women who miscarry. And these legislators, Hackworth and Marrero are Democrats. These are the folks who are supposed to be on the side of women and they want to give the State the right to start sniffing around if your pregnancy doesn’t go right?
This bill opens the door to the State blaming women who miscarry for those miscarriages. Shoot, it doesn’t just open the door. It opens the door and escorts the State right in.
They cannot make it illegal, still, thank god, for you to be pregnant in your own way. They cannot legally require you to go to the doctor. They cannot hold you legally responsible for the death of your fetus.
But they want to. And so this is an end run around that. If you won’t do what they want you to do, they will drug test you and force you into treatment if they don’t like what they’ve found. In other words, you will be punished for, in the case of imbibing alcohol, something that is perfectly legal. Something most doctors will tell you is fine on occassion when you are pregnant.
In other words, the precident they’re setting is that, once you are pregnant, your body is not your own. You no longer know what’s best for you. Your doctor no longer knows what’s best for you. You are not allowed to not realize you’re pregnant. You’re not allowed to be afraid. You’re not allowed to be too poor to go to the doctor. You have to do what the State tells you to do while you’re pregant, because, while you’re pregnant, your body is not your own.
And here’s the other thing. Can we just not beat around the bush about the subtext here? It’s no coincidence that Memphis has an infant mortality rate so depressingly high that it might as well be a hundred years ago over there and that Marrero is bringing the bill. You cannot be a human being with a soul and look at what’s going on in Memphis, or shoot, in neighborhoods here in Nashville, and not have your heart come right out sobbing into your hands.
But treating women like, once they’re pregnant, the State needs to control them is vile. It just is. There’s no way around it and wanting to protect babies doesn’t make it okay to assume that the problem lies solely with the mothers.
If Marrero makes a medical decision I don’t like, should I have the right to force her to take a drug test, make sure she hasn’t been drinking too much?
The sad truth is that pregnancies end for all kinds of reasons. Some women can go their whole pregancies not even knowing they’re pregnant, drinking and drugging it up, and their kids come out with no ill-effects. Many, many women in this State try their hardest to do the right thing every step of the way–doctor visits, vitamins, no alcohol use, etc.–and they still lose their pregnancies. They still have babies who are too sick to make it through the year. It’s not anyone’s fault. It just happens. And I know my fair share of women in that situation and they all blame themselves at some level. Adding to their suffering by having the state step in and act like they’re to blame is cruel.
02/19/2009 at 6:48 pm
Just wow. And I noticed there is no mention of drug testing for the father of these pregnancies? Or did I miss that somewhere? Why O Why do MEN feel the need to try to govern women’s bodies? What prehistoric ideas are they trying to move us back to? I would like to tell them when, how and what they can do to their bodies…Miscarriage is hard enough without the shame of a drug test (even if you are clean just the test itself infers shame). I am appalled at our state.
02/19/2009 at 7:49 pm
OMFG….
02/19/2009 at 8:18 pm
OMG! OMG! OMG! What the HELL is this state doing? Is it that Stacey guy sponsoring this?
Sounds like something he would do! This is utterly crazy! I would have been tested! We
need to make sure this does NOT happen
02/20/2009 at 12:10 am
At the very least, it makes no sense. How can it be legal to end your baby’s life ON PURPOSE via abortion, and illegal to do it by accident?
02/20/2009 at 8:44 am
Nothing surprising here, my oh my we’re having a regular Vaginapalooza in Nashville this
season aren’t we? As for this piece of junk legislation, it’s just the latest attempt to
declare a fetus a person, which is the Pro-Life agenda now. Think about it, if they can
obtain personhood for the fetus prior to birth, with protections like this, then they’ve
finally turned abortion into actual chargable murder and thus outlawed it thru a
backdoor. And where, you ask, are they trying to take us back to? Oh, I think Muslim
countries and sharia law have quite a few parallels with the anti-woman legislation
that is becoming the rule and no longer the purview of a few wild-eyed bible-thumping
radicals both in our state and many others. Also, please note that there is no
attachment to this legislation that will cover the costs of pre-natal care for poor
women. Because we don’t care enough to provide the ability to do what should be done.
As another blogger here in Knox is very apt to say “that woman made her birth control
decision when she spread her legs”. Thus if she’s too poor to have a baby then she
better not have sex. That, ladies and gentlemen, is compassionate conservative theology
at it’s best.
02/20/2009 at 9:54 am
Missy.
Please note that the pro-life lobby is not behind this bill. It is being put forward by DEMOCRATS. Would you care to explain that?
02/20/2009 at 10:02 am
I am speechless and angry. This legislation is ridiculous! Does Planned Parenthood of M and E TN know about this?
02/20/2009 at 10:15 am
To be very clear, the Republican party does not have exclusive ownership of the Pro-Life
movement. While the bulk of the movement has tied themselves to that party, there are
also many Democrats who also call themselves Pro-Life. This legislation, while possibly
based upon good intentions, is what I consider yet another tool in that Pro-Life/
Anti-Woman agenda and even if the movement is publicly not attached, you can be sure that their fingerprints are all over this junk legislation. And the punishment of all women, regardless of status or class, if they
do not care for themselves based upon how the state says they should, is a direct slap in
the face to every woman, regardless of reproductive status. That women, and Democrat women
at that, allowed themselves to be led down this path in the interest of engineering a
cure for social ills at least partly caused by poverty and poor education is the saddest
part of all.
02/20/2009 at 10:33 am
The only people this will benefit are the drug-testing companies. This is a horribly written law.
02/20/2009 at 10:51 am
I know there are pro-life Democrats since I happen to be one. I would like to see some evidence that the pro-life lobby has its fingerprints on this bill. What is the voting record of these legislators on abortion issues?
02/20/2009 at 10:56 am
I posted a letter to Sen. Marrero here: http://nashvillecommunityorganizers.ning.com/profiles/blogs/an-open-letter-to-sen-marrero
02/20/2009 at 11:15 am
“Sen. Beverly Marrero (D), who voted against the resolution in the committee, said, ‘This is a flagrant attempt to try to have the government intervene in what should be between a woman and those people that are close to her’ (AP/Memphis Daily News, 1/9).”
This is what one of the sponsors of the bill in question had to say regarding her vote against a piece of pro-life legislation.
I found it a little harder to track down info on Mr. Hackworth since he apparently likes to call himself pro-life except in cases of “rape, incest, and the mother’s health,” with the result that he votes with the pro-choice side. Tennessee Right to Life gave him a big 0 in May 2008 for voting against every pro-life bill they supported.
So can we at least have an honest debate here and quit blaming Republicans, conservatives, pro-lifers, or the religious right for this bill that you don’t like? Do you think it’s possible that the fact that Democrats who are usually (in my opinion, and yours too I assume) on the right side, have sponsored this bill demonstrates the ambivalence many have regarding unborn life: either ours to take at will or ours to protect at all costs, all depending on whether its mother wants it to live or not?
02/20/2009 at 12:03 pm
Thanks Leslie for your research. However, now I would actually be more inclined to wonder whether Sen. Marrero has lost her mind. Because, you know this legislation flies directly in the face of her quote that you posted above.
Regardless, I feel that this legislation (again while possibly well-intentioned) is trying to cure societal ills via what is actually amounting to punishment for all women who bear (and possibly suffer the tragic loss of) a child in TN. I think we all know that some mothers are only barely entitled to that honorific. And, yes, some mothers abuse drugs and alcohol while they are pregnant. And let’s go ahead and stipulate that some mothers abuse those substances (and their children thru maltreatment or neglect) after they are born too. The harsh reality of the world we live in is that we are not able to save all children from that fate. In fact, the state systems set up to serve and protect the children born into those situations fail them daily. Sometimes with horrific results that break all of our hearts. So, when you consider that reality, how can this legislation that is designed to protect the unborne work? The only prosecutions will end up being the poorest or most defenseless members of our society, but it will also open the door to abuses of people who first suffer the loss of a child and then suffer the indignity of having to justify why they made the decision to have a glass of wine with dinner. Furthermore, I will always be against any legislation that crosses the boundary between the Senate chamber and my Doctor’s office. That is not the place of my government, my choices are not yours to make. What I choose is between me and my God, and the TN State Legislature should have no role in that process. So that’s a debate that doesn’t involve labels and hotbutton groups. My body, my choice. Very simple concept. For me at least.
02/20/2009 at 2:53 pm
Katie, I passed this on to my pal (and former student) Radley Balko, and he picked it up on his blog, The Agitator http://www.theagitator.com.
Scary stuff.
02/21/2009 at 5:14 pm
OMG? Who is the idiot who proposed this bill? Does HE know how many clients I have who just cannot afford a doctor?
03/03/2009 at 1:53 pm
I feel as if I have just woke up in the twilight zone.
03/04/2009 at 1:25 pm
Here is the link to the government of Tennessee page, from there you can find your representatives and send them emails telling them to vote no on this. We can’t just sit back and moan about how wrong this is and not do anything. Also here is a copy of the letter I sent to mine, if you want to just copy and paste it. I included the bill from above so that, hopefully, they will actually read it.
http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/government/elected.html
My body belongs to me! I may not know I’m pregnant, I may not have a car or can aford to go to a doctor several times in nine months. My unborn child may simplely die for no reason, there may be complications for no reason, these things happen. That doesn’t not make me a drug user nor does that give the state the right to treat me as such. Please, for your wife and your daughters and your sisters and neices and all the women of child baring age in the state of Tennessee, vote no on this legislation!
SB 1065 by Marrero B (HB 0890 by Hackworth)
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, relative to testing for certain substances in pregnant women.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1.Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, Chapter 5, is amended by adding Section 2 of this act as a new part thereto.
SECTION 2.
(a) The general assembly declares that, as a matter of public policy of this state and in
the interest of public health, pregnant women who abuse alcohol and drugs pose a risk to their unborn children. Pregnant women who meet certain criteria, as determined by the department, through rules and regulations duly promulgated in accordance with the provisions of the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, shall be tested for alcohol and drugs in order to encourage them to seek immediate treatment for an alcohol-related or drug-related problem.
(b) If the department levies a fee or charge for the cost of testing, it shall use the same billing and collection methods normally used by independent private laboratories. Any fee shall be waived for patients who are unable to pay.
(c) The department, in promulgating rules to implement this act, shall consider the following as indications of the necessity for alcohol or drug testing:
(1) No prenatal care;
(2) Late prenatal care after twenty-four (24) weeks gestation;
(3) Incomplete prenatal care;
(4) Abruptio placentae;
(5) Intrauterine fetal death;
(6) Preterm labor of no obvious cause;
(7) Intrauterine growth retardation of no obvious cause;
(8) Previously known alcohol or drug abuse; or
(9) Unexplained congenital anomalies.
(d) The commissioner of health is authorized to adopt rules, using criteria established by the United States department of health and human services as guidelines for modeling the drug and alcohol testing program pursuant to this act, concerning, but not limited to:
(1) Standards for licensing drug and alcohol testing laboratories and suspension and revocation of the licenses;
(2) Body specimens and minimum specimen amounts that are appropriate for drug or alcohol testing;
(3) Methods of analysis and procedures to ensure reliable drug or alcohol testing results, including the use of breathalyzers and standards for initial tests and confirmation tests;
(4) Minimum cut-off detection levels for alcohol, each drug or metabolites of the drug for the purposes of determining a positive test result;
(5) Chain-of-custody procedures to ensure proper identification, labeling and handling of specimens tested; and
(6) Retention, storage and transportation procedures to ensure reliable results on confirmation tests and retests.
(e) Prior to acting on the proposed rules to implement this chapter, the commissioner shall submit the proposed rules to the house health and human resources and the senate general welfare committees of the general assembly for their review and comment. The committees shall have forty-five (45) days to review the proposed rules and transmit any comment it may have to the commissioner.
(f) Any woman who tests positive for alcohol or drugs on a test administered pursuant to this chapter shall be referred to treatment for an alcohol-related or drug-related problem. Every physician, surgeon or other person permitted by law to attend a pregnant woman during gestation shall report each woman who refuses to seek treatment for an alcohol-related or drug-related problem or who misses two (2) or more appointments to the department of children’s services. Such reports shall be in a manner specified by the department, either by contacting a local representative of the department or by utilizing the department’s centralized intake procedure, where applicable.
(g) A health care provider who makes a report of alcohol or drug abuse, as required by subsection (f), shall not be liable in any civil or criminal action that is based solely upon such report.
(h) Nothing in this section shall be construed to confer any immunity upon a health care provider for a criminal or civil action arising out of the treatment of a woman about whom the report of alcohol or drug abuse was made.
(i) All information, interviews, reports, statements, memoranda and drug or alcohol test results, written or otherwise, received by the covered employer through a drug or alcohol testing program are confidential communications and may not be used or received in evidence, obtained in discovery or disclosed in any public or private proceedings, except in accordance with this section.
(j) Laboratories, medical review officers, employee assistance programs, drug or alcohol rehabilitation programs and their agents who receive or have access to information concerning drug or alcohol test results shall keep all information confidential. Release of the information under any other circumstance is authorized solely pursuant to a written consent form signed voluntarily by the person tested, unless the release is compelled by a hearing officer or a court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to an appeal taken under this section, relevant to a legal claim asserted by the employee or is deemed appropriate by a professional or occupational licensing board in a related disciplinary proceeding. The consent form must contain, at a minimum:
(1) The name of the person who is authorized to obtain the information;
(2) The purpose of the disclosure;
(3) The precise information to be disclosed;
(4) The duration of the consent; and
(5) The signature of the person authorizing release of the information.
(k) Information on drug or alcohol test results for tests administered pursuant to this act shall not be released or used in any criminal proceeding against the woman who was subject to the test. Information released contrary to this section is inadmissible as evidence in the criminal proceeding.
SECTION 3. For the purpose of promulgating rules and regulations, this act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it. For all other purposes this act shall take effect January 1, 2010, the public welfare requiring it.