Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/16/oklahoma-is-prosecuting-women-for-smoking-legalized-medical-marijuana.html
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Apart from the usually forced birth misogyny, I wonder why they’re so keen to persecute this woman. 
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U.S. Out of Women’s Uteri
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That road sign clicked home a realization: that the outline of the state of Oklahoma seems to be saying “You have arrived at Oklahoma. Are you sure you weren’t trying to go to New Mexico?”
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Look out Texans…
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But the local prosecutor was undeterred. He filed an appeal to reinstate the charges, arguing that Aguilar broke the law because the fetus growing inside her did not have its own, separate license to use medical marijuana.
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Looks to me like someone has political ambitions.
EDIT: tyops.
Time to get the eyeballs checked…
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I really doubt the prosecution is worried over anyone’s well being here 
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Damn, that looks like the prosecutor might suggest they go full Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye when it comes to sentencing smokers…
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How ironic it would be if the medical marijuana had been prescribed to reduce the chance of miscarriage.
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I can’t imagine this going anywhere, but if it did, wouldn’t this apply to all prescription medicines? No pregnant woman could ever take any prescription drug unless the child also had a prescription?
And no responsible doctor would prescribe adult doses of a medicine to a patient the size of a booger (though being able to charge for two visits everytime they see a pregnant patient might be nice).
AND, even if the pregnant person and the fetus both had a prescription, it would still be illegal for the pregnant woman to share their prescription drugs with someone else. *
I sure hope the court of appeals is only hearing this in order to set precedent that this is an non starter.
*I am neither doctor nor lawyer, nor have I ever played one on TV.
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Of course if one did accept that a foetus is a human being, they are under the age of consent, so their parent legally deals with their medical involvement.
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Yeah, not to make light of the very real threats facing women here at all but that legal argument had me laughing out loud. What a fucking farce.
And note how, though they consider the fetus a precious, separate entity that must be protected at all costs, all of their policies around this belief are about punishing pregnant women and none of them are about supporting or nurturing them in any way.
I know, I know, preaching to the choir here, but geez.
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This is part of the effort to push the idea of fetal personhood. If the forced birthers can get fetuses categorized as people under the law, any abortion is now a murder charge and any conduct that could endanger the fetus (which in reality is almost every thing) is child endangerment, manslaughter if there is a miscarriage, providing alcohol to a minor, etc.
Another tactic for forcing people to give birth and control women. In reality, most everyday activities are dangerous for a fetus. From eating lunch meat to driving to the pregnant person sleeping on their back when the fetus is past 20 weeks gestation.
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Came to say exactly this. Oklahoma has tried to enact fetal personhood laws as state bills, state constitutional amendments, and lawsuits, and has so far failed or been struck down each time. This is the latest volley.
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I’m sorry, have you not been paying attention lately? Anything to stop women from having control over their bodies is on the table. Laws declaring fetuses people with separate rights outside of the mother’s body are widely seen as a pathway to ensure that women are forced to carry pregnancies that they do not want. We’re NOT SEEN AS FULLY HUMAN, in other words. I’m not sure how that point continues to be lost on people.
But of course, there are laws being passed in red states that say that people can have their children taken away if they violate right wing mores.
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I can’t believe we’re still arguing that women can’t control their own bodies. The joke I heard ages ago is that if men had to carry the babies you could get an abortion at the McDonald’s counter.
That said, fetal personhood is an insane, terrible idea. Like most conservative fringe pushed ideas, it has all sorts of ramifications that will mess the entire system up for decades. When a woman is pregnant, is the child due wages? If not, how does that align with child labor laws? Since poorer women typically have less access to birth control and thus are more likely to have an unplanned birth, this means your lower wage jobs now suddenly are paying twice as much! Can pregnant women use ride share lanes? No SSN, but I’d guess you could get child care refund on your taxes? I mean…there’s just so many crazy situations you can bank the idea again.
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Already some case law on this in Texas for use of carpool lanes:
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Foetal personhood is a crazy idea which wasn’t embraced in any religious or secular thinking ever, until the new crop of American Evangelical Fundamentalists saw a way to legally formalise a system of oppression.
If a foetus is a person, isn’t the mother entitled to charge them for accommodation? Who’s going to pay? Shouldn’t there be a rental contract. Who would sign it?
It reminds me of a court case in India where a son sued his parents for conceiving him without his permission. Both parents were lawyers. It didn’t get far.
I’m stopping there before I sound even crazier.
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