Careful What You Think

Ah, only in America can things like this happen.

Out in Iowa, Christine Taylor was pregnant, already the mother of two, and splitting up with her husband. As is her right, she considered the options available to her as a soon-to-be single mother; she thought about abortion, but decided against it; she thought about giving up the baby for adoption, but changed her mind. She decided that, going through a divorce, having a child, being unemployed, would be the right path for her.

As is her right.

Then one day everything went crazy. See, Christine Taylor had just gotten off the phone from a very argumentative conversation with her estranged husband. She became dizzy then fell down a flight of stairs in her home. She called 911, and paramedics arrived quickly enough and declared her healthy. But, since she was pregnant with her third child, Christine Taylor thought she should see a doctor, and they took her to the local emergency room.

It was there that the world, at least Christine Taylor's world, went nuts.

Worried, and alone, Christine Taylor confided in the nurse treating her about her situation; she told the woman that she hadn't always been sure she'd wanted to keep this baby, now that she was out of work and soon-to-be divorced; she mentioned that she had considered adoption and abortion. She was just venting to someone she thought might have a compassionate ear.

Not so; that nurse summoned a doctor, who questioned Christine further about her thoughts on ending the pregnancy, and the next thing Christine Taylor knew, she was being arrested for attempted feticide, which, according to Iowa state law, is trying "to intentionally terminate a human pregnancy, with the knowledge and voluntary consent of the pregnant person, after the end of the second trimester of the pregnancy." Apparently the nurse and doctor thought she had thrown herself down the stairs on purpose.

Christine Taylor spent two days in jail before being released. Yes, a pregnant woman was jailed because she'd thought about abortion, and then fell down some stairs a couple of months later.

After a nearly month-long investigation, the District Attorney declined to prosecute Christine Taylor. Now, the DA didn't come to his decision because it seemed moronic to prosecute a women for thinking; no, the decision was made because it came to light that Taylor was late in her second trimester when she fell, not early in her third as the nurse and doctor had thought.

See, it's okay in Iowa to fall down a flight of stairs in the first two-thirds of your pregnancy, but after the last third begins, well, it's the slammer for you. But, what for me, feels even more disgusting, is that this woman thought she was speaking confidentially and compassionately with the staff at her local hospital. How does a doctor-patient conversation get handed over to the police department?

Thought police?