592
submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Brittany Watts, 33, was charged after police searched her toilet following her miscarriage in September.

A Black woman in Ohio has been charged with a felony for abuse of a corpse after she miscarried into her toilet, according to a criminal complaint, and reproductive rights experts are warning that it could set a dangerous precedent if she is convicted.

The attorney for Brittany Watts and a campaign organized on her behalf called the charges against her unjust, saying they feared the case could open the door to similar prosecutions and lawsuits over miscarriages nationwide.

Just hours after Watts, 33, was admitted to a hospital for a life-threatening hemorrhage after she miscarried in her bathroom Sep. 22, police removed her toilet from her home and searched it for fetal remains, according to a GoFundMe set up to fund her legal expenses and home repairs.

"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 and is fighting for her freedom and reputation," her attorney, Traci Timko, said in a statement.

all 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] zeppo@lemmy.world 219 points 1 year ago

police removed her toilet from her home and searched it

Everything about this is insane and exactly what sensible people thought would happen.

[-] Birdie@thelemmy.club 112 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's what it took to get to the fetus and remove it. And they're blaming her for not doing it. There she was with a partially retained placenta, in danger of bleeding out, and she had the nerve to leave her toilet intact in order to obtain timely life saving health care.

And don't forget, she'd been to the hospital multiple times and left because she wasn't receiving care...all hospital caregivers and 'legal teams' were too busy trying to figure out if they could legally remove a dead fetus; they wouldn't do what needed to be done. Just left her sitting there while they argued intent of the law versus letter of the law.

"She put the fetus into the toilet." No, she didn't. The fetus was expelled into the toilet, along with bodily waste. She tried to get everything out, but she couldn't.

"She then went about her day." No, she didn't. She went to the hospital. She was bleeding (probably heavily) due to part of the placenta being left attached.

That's just two of the twisted statements the prosecutor has made in order to make this woman look like a heartless SOB.

It's gone too far, and short of removing Republicans from office and justices from the court, I don't know what we can do. They are prosecuting this woman to punish her for miscarrying in an inconvenient place.

It's worth mentioning that just 11 days earlier, had her miscarriage happened at the hospital, it would have been disposed of as medical waste...incinerated. 11 freaking days, and the state is criminalizing her.

[-] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 year ago

If there is a God.....

Firstly he's a piece of shit for creating this universe the way it is

Secondly he's a piece of shit of allowing all this to happen

Thirdly, he, in all his emptiness and nothingness, deserves all the aholes that firmly believe that they should live in eternity with him.

[-] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

If God is omnipotent, omniscient and wholly good, whence evil? If God wills to prevent evil but cannot, then He is not omnipotent. If He can prevent evil but does not, then he is not good. In either case he is not God.
-David Hume

If God is unable to prevent evil, then he is not all-powerful.
If God is not willing to prevent evil, then he is not all-good.
If God is both willing and able to prevent evil, then why does evil exist?
-Epicurus

[-] pete_the_cat@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

He has a plan though! Just remember that! /s

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] pete_the_cat@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago

This is one of the many reasons that I hate people: "10 days and you're fine, 12 days and you're a murderer". People that follow the law to the number are a scourge on humanity.

[-] Ultragramps 37 points 1 year ago

Facts. The people loudly freaking out at the Supreme Court were right all along. Innocent women will be punished during a traumatic experience that is more than punishment enough. The amount of shame for this and other consequences of Conservative legislation will need to be applied for generations. They have proven to be a lice or bedbug infestation and proper treatment is necessary.

[-] zeppo@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

It was already happening in places with severe abortion restrictions like El Salvador:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-61798330
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/salvadoran-women-jailed-decades-miscarriages-stillbirths-warn-us-abort-rcna33035
https://theconversation.com/el-salvadors-abortion-ban-jails-women-for-miscarriages-and-stillbirths-now-one-womans-family-seeks-international-justice-156484

The abortion ban is so broadly enforced that even women who suffer miscarriages and stillbirths can be prosecuted for murder. Now an international court will decide for the first time whether these laws violate the human rights of Salvadoran women.

Hmm... the US is a member of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and signed but never ratified the treaty. Great. The court did actually determine that El Salvador needed to change their policies, which were basically the same as the ones the Christian Fascists have come up with in Texas, Ohio, etc.

https://reproductiverights.org/case/manuela-v-el-salvador-inter-american-court-of-human-rights/

[-] crandlecan@mander.xyz 23 points 1 year ago

I heard she did something a few years back that really upset Baby Jesus and made him cry! I'm certain God knows what he's doing!!

[-] Ultragramps 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That “mysterious ways” argument has rationalized an incalculable amount of unnecessary pain.

[-] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

These are the images the Democrats need to sear into the minds of all voters. This is pure 1984 dystopian bullshit.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] BoiLudens@lemmy.world 107 points 1 year ago

Man whenever I bring up these kind of things to my parents, it’s always like, “well there’ll surely be an exception for it”. The reality is there’s never an exception for it. The exception has to be fought for at the expense of the victim

[-] TechyDad@lemmy.world 41 points 1 year ago

Just look at the "life of the mother exceptions." There was a recent case where the fetus was all but dead and the woman's life was in danger. She actually wanted the child, but carrying it to term and delivering it could have killed her.

Seems like an ideal life of the mother situation, right? Except the doctors said she wasn't close enough to death. So she sued in court to get the law overturned. She won the right to have an abortion, but then the AG threatened the hospitals/doctors. Then the Texas Supreme Court ruled that she was at risk of dying, but she wasn't CLOSE ENOUGH to death to qualify. So basically she had to be actively dying to get an abortion and even then it might not be good enough.

It's ridiculous.

[-] SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 year ago

All the exceptions are fake. How long does a rape conviction take to secure, assuming the perp is actually found guilty at all? Longer than a few weeks, that’s for sure!

[-] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 year ago

Considering most rape kits don't even get processed, yeah it's a hell of a lot longer than a few weeks

[-] TechyDad@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

And that's assuming that the rape is reported. Many rapes go unreported for various reasons. And requirements that the woman has to report the rape before she might be allowed to have an abortion are meant to force women into public shaming/threatening situations. ("How dare she accuse POPULAR COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYER of raping her! Look at what she was wearing. She was asking for it! Why was she drinking at all? The second a woman takes a drink of alcohol, she consents to have sex.")

[-] Facebones@reddthat.com 90 points 1 year ago

"This is what's going to happen if you repeal Roe"

"nuh uh that's insane you fucking extremist LiBrUlZ that'd never happen stop spreading fear"

this is like the third case of this this month

[-] ElcaineVolta@kbin.social 71 points 1 year ago
[-] Retrograde@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

Eh more shithole state in this example but.. yeah

[-] Vilian@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 year ago

shithole country to allow it

[-] x4740N@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

america is the earth's toilet, it's all shit down there

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 49 points 1 year ago
[-] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

Need a real life Bruce Wayne. Someone to spend their fortune fighting for women like this. Hire the 5 best defense attorneys in the country and start embarrassing the shit out of these hateful fucks.

We need to reinvent the angry mob for rescuing people from the police instead of lynching them

[-] YurkshireLad@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago

I don’t know what to say to this……. I’m lost for words. Except the ones I’ve written here obviously…

[-] bufalo1973@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago

Welcome to Honduras!

[-] McLoud@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Not an American. Please explain why her skin colour is relevant in the headline. I have noticed this a lot in American news, and it seems intentionally divisive to me.

[-] BreakDecks@lemmy.ml 38 points 1 year ago

In America, people of color are poorly treated by police, the justice system, and the healthcare system. It is important to point out examples of this when we see it, because our system usually starts treating marginalized groups unfairly as a test to see how badly they can treat everyone.

It is very common for police to look for chargabe offenses they pin on a Black person, but not so much for white people. Once there are charges, prosecutors typically focus on conviction at all costs, especially for Black defendants.

Here we have the trifecta: a Black woman has a miscarriage and call for help, and the police show up and immediately look for reasons to arrest her. While she's recovering from a miscarriage, she's hit with charges of abusing a corpse because she had the audacity to miscarry in a toilet. Now she's facing felony charges related to a miscarriage in a state that has passed such draconian anti-abortion laws that even miscarrying could lead to murder charges.

So we absolutely have to say exactly what is happening, because if we don't, this woman and countless others will end up locked in cages with their rights stripped away from them for daring to exist in a way that didn't satisfy the white supremacist / christofacist factions in this country.

[-] LadyAutumn 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Black women face unique discrimination at the hands of the justice system. Not just in America, either. Canada and the UK (among many other nations) both have institutions of systemic injustice towards women of color.

[-] bufalo1973@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"Not every black man is abused in the US. Some are abused outside the US" Les Luthiers.

this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2023
592 points (100.0% liked)

News

28500 readers
4685 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS