this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2023
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The 33-year-old Watts, who had not shared the news of her pregnancy even with her family, made her first prenatal visit to a doctor’s office behind Mercy Health-St. Joseph’s Hospital in Warren, a working-class city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Cleveland.

The doctor said that, while a fetal heartbeat was still present, Watts’ water had broken prematurely and the fetus she was carrying would not survive. He advised heading to the hospital to have her labor induced, so she could have what amounted to an abortion to deliver the nonviable fetus. Otherwise, she would face “significant risk” of death, according to records of her case.

That was a Tuesday in September. What followed was a harrowing three days entailing: multiple trips to the hospital; Watts miscarrying into, and then flushing and plunging, a toilet at her home; a police investigation of those actions; and Watts, who is Black, being charged with abuse of a corpse. That’s a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

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[–] [email protected] 140 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You need to show me a birth and death certificate for that to be a corpse.

[–] [email protected] 86 points 10 months ago (1 children)

And then she gets a child credit in her taxes.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

Unrelated fun fact on child tax credits: There is a section of the internal revenue code that states if your child has been kidnapped, you can still claim the dependent.

This means that at some point in time, somebody lost a child, and their priority was maintaining that sweet, sweet credit to the point that they went to court to argue the matter.

Edit: It's in Internal Revenue Code section 152

(6)Treatment of missing children (A)In general Solely for the purposes referred to in subparagraph (B), a child of the taxpayer— (i)who is presumed by law enforcement authorities to have been kidnapped by someone who is not a member of the family of such child or the taxpayer, and (ii)who had, for the taxable year in which the kidnapping occurred, the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer for more than one-half of the portion of such year before the date of the kidnapping, shall be treated as meeting the requirement of subsection (c)(1)(B) with respect to a taxpayer for all taxable years ending during the period that the child is kidnapped.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 months ago (6 children)

You're making it sound like it's definitely the parent who is somehow being cruddy.
Lawsuits over tax interpretation don't happen until years after the fact and they're initiated by the IRS.

Alternative explanation: someone's kid was kidnapped, so they took their taxes to a tax prep person and told them to deal with it. Tax prep person checked the boxes for the credit and submitted the taxes.
Later, the IRS says you can't claim them as a dependent and that they don't live in your house without providing an alternative address.
The IRS sues HR block as the agent of the taxpayer and five years later a judge says that you actually can, so the code is updated and a new checkbox added.

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[–] [email protected] 86 points 10 months ago (2 children)

They left her waiting, knowing the baby was already dead, increasing her risk of potentially deadly complications. I see no problem here. The dead baby should have been removed.

She should not be charged with anything. There is medical neglect going on here and it's obvious to me that her life was in jeopardy the longer she carried the dead baby.

I lost my last pregnancy at 20+ weeks due to premature break of my water. I didn't even realize it had happened, the pregnancy was wanted even if it wasn't planned, and I am still dealing with the trauma (and the hospital bills). All I can think of is I'm thankful it happened when it did and my doctor didn't hesitate to induce labor - a medical induced abortion - so my life would be okay. (And I was able to get a copper IUD placed because I know my mental health could not survive the potential loss of another child.)

This poor woman... She is traumatized and our trash legal system wants to fine her and jail her. She needs support and love, not more debt and punishment. I screamed and cried in the hospital surrounded by support medical staff. She was in her bathroom...

This makes my blood boil. The government should have zero say in private medical decisions. Abortion is no one's first choice.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago

You see no problem because you are not a brainwashed, religious, misogynistic nutjob with a need to control all women and keep them in their place

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So sorry. It is definitely extremely traumatic. We don't talk about this sort of thing enough. I can't imagine the horror of facing a devastating loss and going to jail on top of it for doing nothing wrong.

I wouldn't be surprised to see more women arrested for miscarriages in the future. This is the hellscape of control and misery the GOP wants.

It's fucking sickening, cruel, ignorant, and disgusting.

The GOP must be stripped of power.

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 10 months ago (29 children)

Remember guys, both sides are the same. We should probably vote third party or something. /S

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I grew up in Ohio.

Don't live in Ohio.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Ohio has produced a statistically abnormal amount of astronauts. Ohio is so bad that the people from there have been soured of the earth itself.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 10 months ago

Their exit velocity when leaving Ohio is so high that they simply can't stop themselves from catapulting into space.

[–] [email protected] 64 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Catholic hospital leaves this women sitting and waiting for care while they debate on whether or not to provide treatment because of laws and policies. They never provide her treatment and she goes home. What choice did this poor woman have but to have a miscarriage at home. I can't begin to imagine the horror and hopelessness this woman endured. She would have been in no good mental state to deal with this and honestly her actions shouldn't be held against her.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (9 children)

Even if she hadn't gone to the hospital first, this could happen to anyone. 10-15% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, many of them happen at home. Probably even more, but people don't always realize even when it happens. Just another example in a long list of many many reasons why these anti abortion access laws are wrong. Her actions are not surprising, why would anyone want to be forthcoming about a miscarriage if just acknowledging it may turn the authorities on you? Accusing you of inducing an abortion?

The mother could have died from these delays in care too, this situation can result in sepsis and other complications. As the fetus becomes exposed to the outside world massive infections, fetal death, and then maternal death can all ensue. The first doctor was right, she should go straight to the hospital. But then the hospital just sent her home multiple times with premature ruptured membranes while they deliberate abortion legalities? That's a hospital admission for continuous monitoring until delivery or an abortion (depending on specifics and gestational age/viability), not a discharge to home and wait situation.

We need these stupid and dangerous laws all struck down yesterday. Anti abortion access laws kill people.

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 10 months ago (2 children)

TL;DR her pregnancy was non-viable. She had a miscarriage, into her toilet at home. She tried to plunger the "blockage", and was subsequently charged with a crime.

[–] [email protected] 79 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The context your tldr is missing is that the hospital she went to ignored her and left her waiting.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 10 months ago

Thanks, I skimmed over that.

Her regular doctor told her to go to ER, ER left her waiting while they deliberated over the "legalities" of it, discharging her home just before the legal deadline for a legal medical abortion expired.

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Didn't ohio just vote to solidy abortion rights in their constitution? How do you criminally charge someone after having what is essentially a referendum vote on it, and passing it... and then turning around and doing this shit where they just tell the population to get fucked? Is that how I read this?

[–] [email protected] 42 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Unfortunately since it happened in September it happened before the vote took place. Still despicable though

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 10 months ago

Soon public bathrooms in America can have birth certificate dispensers for all the miscarriages that are apparently corpses now.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This the Future Republicans want for their Daughters!

[–] [email protected] 42 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Other people's daughters, their own they think will be magically excused do to circumstance. (Which will match many of the womens circumstance they wished death upon)

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Unfortunately, this is exactly what a lot of Ohio women were hoping for when they voted Republican.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No. Their own abortions are proper, moral, and necessary. It’s everyone else’s (especially marginal communities) abortions that are a travesty and murder.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 months ago

Do you want another civil war… because this is how you get another civil war.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 10 months ago

Civil unrest is still a thing.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is horrific on so many levels. I can't imagine how much trauma this is all causing. 😭

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (5 children)

My first step-mother miscarried my half brother's twin (without knowing she was even pregnant let alone with twins), and the only reason she knew to dig it out of the toilet to be tested was because she was a nurse.

Expecting a traumatized non-medically trained woman to know the same is stupid at best.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago (12 children)

This is obviously a dumb question, but what the fuck are the legal requirements of a miscarriage? I can imagine her thinking she was glad she didn't have any more appointments or have to pay a huge hospital bill. What else was she supposed to do, and would she have known?

I once passed a kidney stone and they didn't say to do anything special with it so I threw it away. Same thing, right?

[–] [email protected] 50 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah that's the crux of the argument the lawyer is making:

Timko, a former prosecutor, said Ohio’s abuse-of-corpse statute is vague. It prohibits treating “a human corpse” in a way that would “outrage” reasonable family or community sensibilities. “From a legal perspective, there’s no definition of ‘corpse,’” she said. “Can you be a corpse if you never took a breath?”

Howard said clarity on what about Watts’ behavior constituted a crime is essential. “For rights of people with the capacity for pregnancy, this is huge,” she said. “Her miscarriage was entirely ordinary. So I just want to know what (the prosecutor) thinks she should have done. If we are going to require people to collect and bring used menstrual products to hospitals so that they can make sure it is indeed a miscarriage, it’s as ridiculous and invasive as it is cruel.”

She'd already been in and out of the hospital, and so when she got home I'm sure she was so traumatized and confused that she probably thought she just had to release whatever was left and move on. Kinda like what happens in a period. The blood comes out, you flush it and clean up, end of story.

I would imagine the "proper" protocol would be for the doctor to "perform" the procedure in a hospital and dispose of it the same way they do of all biological waste. There is absolutely no way she would have an intimate knowledge of Ohio's corpse desecration laws. I buried my cat in the back yard and that was that. She should be afforded the same dignity here, since the fetus died in utero.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago

The legal requirement seems to be not to have one.

Stuff like that if people who have not a single clue about pregnancy make laws regarding pregnancy.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago

This is a terrible tragic story. Republicans are going to eat shit every time there is a story like this. It’s going to grind on like this until the Supreme Court reverses course. I hope Republicans lose big in the mean time.

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