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.

  • Caradoc879@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    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.

    • spider@lemmy.nz
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      11 months ago

      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

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      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!

      • asteriskeverything@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Actually it has everything to do with abortion restrictions because these are the predicted consequences of overturning roe v wade. Suddenly everything is put into question

        • shalafi@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          React emotionally to the headline, read nothing further. Do you not know how to score points around here?!

      • Caradoc879@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        You’re also fucking scum for victimizing a woman for choosing what to do with her own body, then. Abortions are trauma. Having a baby is trauma. The entire sutuation is trauma, and it boils down to Her body, her choice. Fuck off.

        • shalafi@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          She ignored medical advice. Walked away. TWICE. Were you OK with anti-vaxxers doing that because it was “their body their choice”?

          This woman was clearly traumatized by the whole thing, and acted foolishly because of said trauma. Nothing to condemn her for. And no one has.

          Again, this situation doesn’t seem to have anything to do with abortion laws. But you insist OP and I are condemning her to score your point.

          At some point do you say, “Sorry. I was emotional on this thing and misunderstood.”? Or you want to double-down and argue some more when we both fucking agree?

          • ZzyzxRoad@sh.itjust.works
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            11 months ago

            The last article I read about this said that doctors were taking days to figure out how to handle this legally because of abortion restrictions, even though they knew it was nonviable. I have personally AmA’d out of a hospital and gone to a different one for a different health situation because I didn’t trust the doctors, and it turned out to have been the exact right decision.

            Women are not taken seriously by doctors, and black women are really not taken seriously, nor respected as human beings, by doctors in the US. There’s a million variables to this situation that none of us know, and we shouldn’t act like we know. But sure , let’s just judge this woman for how she reacted to a fucking horror movie situation that should have never occurred in the first place, especially in a “free” country with all the necessary healthcare technology readily available.

            So why did this happen to her when she was at home, by herself? Because doctors were afraid of the legal repercussions of performing a medically necessary procedure. That’s all it comes down to. Not that hard.

            At this point, anyone blaming this woman or any other woman in a similar situation as if they brought something like this on themselves, is just a misogynist looking for an outlet for their hatred of women. We all know it, but someone’s got to say it.

    • Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Fuck off, I’m not victim blaming at all. You clearly read what you wanted to instead of what I wrote.