Indiana wants me, lord I won't go back there...

[ebonlock]

This you just have to read to believe:

Indiana bill would limit reproduction procedures for gays, singles

An interim legislative committee is considering a bill that would prohibit gays, lesbians and single people in Indiana from using medical science to assist them in having a child.

Sen. Patricia Miller (R-Indianapolis) said state law does not have regulations on assisted reproduction and should have similar requirements to adoption in Indiana.

[...]

Miller acknowledged that the legislation would be "enormously controversial."

"Our statutes are nearly silent on all this. You can think of guidelines, but when you put it on paper it becomes different," she told The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne for a story Tuesday.

Miller is chairwoman of the Health Finance Commission, a panel of lawmakers that will vote Oct. 20 on whether to recommend the legislation to the full General Assembly.

The bill defines assisted reproduction as causing pregnancy by means other than sexual intercourse, including intrauterine insemination, donation of an egg, donation of an embryo, in vitro fertilization and transfer of an embryo, and sperm injection.

It then requires "intended parents" to be married to each other and says an unmarried person may not be an intended parent.

A doctor cannot begin an assisted reproduction technology procedure that may result in a child being born until the intended parents have received a certificate of satisfactory completion of an assessment required under the bill. The assessment is similar to what is required for infant adoption and would be conducted by a licensed child placing agency in Indiana.

The required information includes the fertility history of the parents, education and employment information, personality descriptions, verification of marital status, child care plans and criminal history checks. Description of the family lifestyle of the intended parents also is required, including participation in faith-based or church activities.

Comments

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

Oy vey. Why is it that people who most want a child and are thus more likely to be devoted parents are the ones who can't get them? Kids who can't be arsed to wear a condom, pop out all the kids you want, but single/gay/infertile non-church-goers who are willing to go to great lengths to have a the chance to raise a child? You're shit outta luck.

Should probably save the text...

[scoreboard.livejournal.com]

...you'll be seeing it again in Alabama in 2007 once His Holiness De Judge is the new governor. Just when I thought California had lapped the ol' home state for the most preposterous figure to put in charge, they come back strong with it. Sigh....

Re: Should probably save the text...

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Do you really think Moore's going to win that race? I mean sure he's got the votes of the rightest of the right wingnuts and fundies but aren't there a few voices of reason left in the state?

Wait, we're talking about Alabama here, sorry, don't know what I was thinking...

Absolutely.

[scoreboard.livejournal.com]

Bear in mind, Alabama has an incumbent Republican governor. The party turned on him after he actually attempted to shift the tax burden off the poor and soak some more money from out-of-state corporations (his tax reform package was endorsed by the Christian Coalition nationally but opposed by the Christian Coalition of Alabama).

Consequently, 2006 is ripe for a challenger in the primary. And his followers are *active.* Can the rest of the state mobilize in the appropriate numbers to counter him? Doubtful.

I recognize intellectually that having the real living breathing state of Talibama will go a long way toward discrediting quasi-religious rule in this country. Emotionally, though, I'm not entirely ready to throw my home state on the fire for the sake of victory. But then, God's not exactly knocking me off my ass on the road to Cupertino saying "Go down to Birmingham and fight the Pharisees" so I'm going to try to wait this one out ;]

[xleste.livejournal.com]

This is so infuriatingly unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I actually just thought I'd read the state name incorrectly the first time. I kept thinking, "Indiana? Are they sure it wasn't Mississippi or Louisiana?"

[razorjak.livejournal.com]

It got pulled already. By the author of it, in fact.

I didn't see this going far. But it's something that needed to be brought to light.

Makes you curious as to how far it'd have gone if the draft ahdn't been brought to public attention.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I suspect it might have made it straight through without any problem had it not been so widely discussed and villified (rightly so). I loved reading all the attempts to justify it by the Righties, though. Their main argument seemed to be "Well there are rules involved in adopting a child, why should this be any different?" I kept debating whether the person using said argument was just stupid or evil, sometimes it was a toss up.

[razorjak.livejournal.com]

Why not come to a compromise and think of them as bth stupid AND evil.

After all, we've got plenty of current examples of how you don't need intelligence to have a career in politics.