A woman who had a miscarriage is now charged with abusing a corpse as stricter abortion laws play out nationwide
A woman who had a miscarriage is now charged with abusing a corpse as stricter abortion laws play out nationwide
An Ohio woman who’d sought treatment at a hospital before suffering a miscarriage and passing her nonviable fetus in her bathroom now faces a criminal charge, her attorney told CNN.
An Ohio woman who had sought treatment at a hospital before suffering a miscarriage and passing her nonviable fetus in her bathroom now faces a criminal charge, her attorney told CNN.
Brittany Watts, 33, of Warren, has been charged with felony abuse of a corpse, Trumbull County court records show.
“Ms. Watts suffered a tragic and dangerous miscarriage that jeopardized her own life. Rather than focusing on healing physically and emotionally, she was arrested and charged with a felony,” her attorney, Traci Timko, told CNN in an email.
…
Though a coroner’s office report said the fetus was not viable and had died in the womb, Watts’ case highlights the extent to which prosecutors can charge a woman whose pregnancy has ended – whether by abortion or miscarriage.
Every woman in Ohio should call the coroner to report their monthly discharge, just in case
No! That’s what they want!
Every person in Ohio should recognize that when the rule of law is corrupted and broken, then [logical corrilary omitted bc it violated group rules].
Mail it to them for autopsy just in case
No, everyone in Ohio should rise the fuck up and stop this stupidity.
A huge percentage of pregnancies end in miscarriage, very often before the woman even knows she was pregnant. This is the same. She should have to take special care of the mass her body rejected just because it was in there a little longer? What's the cutoff for having to report that you had a miscarriage, then? Every period? Every time you have a period that's a week or two late, because that is reasonably likely to have been a miscarriage?
This was a non-viable fetus. It was never going to be a person. It's not a corpse.
This is what the “pro-life” movement is all about. Punishing women
More and more, we see direct evidence as to why Roe vs Wade was necessary.
Because rabid birthers will do anything to punish women who don’t give birth.
Ohio continuing its slow march onto the list of places I won’t travel to anymore. I’ve stopped voluntarily traveling (and spending money in) states I find politically abhorrent, and it feels great. Texas made the list last year, and Florida this year. Cancelled our FL vacation and decided to go to California instead.
The real fucked up part of this is Ohioans just voted to codify abortion and reproductive rights into the state constitution. This is just some assholes trying to find ways around that amendment.
Tangential, but I feel similarly and one of my bucket list items is a motorcycle trip across the country. At this point, do I just ride up to Canada, cross back over around New York? Or down to Tijuana, ride over until I hit ocean and swim around to Jersey? Serious question, should I pack mittens or water wings?
Who the hell would want to get pregnant in the US at this point?
People who think politics doesn't affect them.
The laaaaaaaaand of the freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
She's black so the point is it's supposed to be ok.
I wish I was joking.
Wtf....
Conservatives are fascists.
Why are people still surprised at how cruel they will be?
The hospital staff notified the Warren Police Department, which responded to Watts’ home, the coroner’s office report says.
CNN reached out to the hospital for comment about why staff notified police. Maureen Richmond, vice president of integrated communications at Mercy Health – a Catholic health care system that includes St. Joseph Warren Hospital – sent the following statement to CNN:
“The safety and security of every patient who comes to us for care is our highest priority. Out of respect for patient privacy, we will not discuss individual specifics of care.
Except when it comes to snitching on people.
Damn this poor woman needs support not legal bullshit.
So there are some weird parts to this one. First of all, she could legally get an abortion, and when she went to the doctor initially for PROM and oligohydramnios (water broke at 21 weeks, and there was little/no amniotic fluid), the doctor recommended an abortion. She left AMA. Then came back, again an abortion was recommended, and she was told the fetus wasn't viable, and again she left AMA. She ended up delivering in a toilet, then collected blood / clots and tissue in a bucket that she left by the garage outside, but left the fetus in the toilet.
I'm not going to judge what a woman does after a miscarriage, and I'm not going to pretend to know what it feels like to be told your fetus isn't viable and an abortion would be best. But this sounds like a much more complex case than the title makes it out to be, in fact it seems like it has next to nothing to do with abortion restrictions, which I'm a huge proponent against, as every woman should have autonomy over her body.
Sounds like a woman CHOOSING WHAT TO DO WITH HER OWN BODY. Fucking shame on you for victim blaming. If she wanted to have that baby and chose to try despite medical suggestions, THAT IS HER CHOICE!
Then it sounds like she had a mental health crisis because she miscarried in a fucking bathroom.
Think of the emotional state of that woman and tell yourself charging her with a crime is the right thing to do. If you can't pretend to know what she was going through you certainly have no fucking right to judge her actions.
Then it sounds like she had a mental health crisis because she miscarried in a fucking bathroom.
And the prosecutors are holding her to a standard they likely couldn't follow themselves under these circumstances.
Also, she's black, which I'm sure has nothing to do with this. /s
She was perfectly in the clear to get an abortion. She ignored medical advice twice. So yeah, there's more to this than the headline.
OP didn't say charging her with a crime was right. OP said nothing like that. OP even went out of his way (2nd paragraph for those with low reading comprehension) to state that he wasn't making any sort of judgement. Merely that this didn't seem the result of abortion restrictions and it's an odd case with some unanswered questions.
Honestly though, it's all OP's fault for reading the article and not reacting emotionally. Do better OP!
Fuck off, I'm not victim blaming at all. You clearly read what you wanted to instead of what I wrote.
Seems like her mental state wasn't the best throughout her whole ordeal.
Regardless, the important thing here is that they are charging her with mutilation of a corpse when there's no guidelines in OH for how to handle fetal remains.
How is anyone supposed to know what to do in that situation, even if they are more clearheaded?