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.
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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.
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.
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?
And then she went back to get a abortion and the hospital waxed intellectually on the ethics of abortion for hours and hours before she left and miscarried in her toilet.
Why are you making shit up?
It’s in the article