this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2023
768 points (99.0% liked)

News

23275 readers
3589 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. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. 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 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social 109 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] Neato@kbin.social 70 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And then she gets a child credit in her taxes.

[–] Got_Bent@lemmy.world 31 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 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.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 30 points 11 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.

load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] SuzyQ@sh.itjust.works 85 points 11 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.

[–] maryjayjay@lemmy.world 21 points 11 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

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 17 points 11 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] TheFonz@lemmy.world 85 points 11 months ago (29 children)

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

load more comments (29 replies)
[–] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 69 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I grew up in Ohio.

Don't live in Ohio.

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 54 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 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.

[–] psycho_driver@lemmy.world 27 points 11 months ago

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

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 57 points 11 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.

[–] nifty@lemmy.world 79 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 41 points 11 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Aviandelight@mander.xyz 50 points 11 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.

[–] Ranvier@sopuli.xyz 35 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 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.

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 43 points 11 months ago (1 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?

[–] Maximilious@kbin.social 34 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Crow@lemmy.world 41 points 11 months ago

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

[–] BigMacHole@lemm.ee 37 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This the Future Republicans want for their Daughters!

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 42 points 11 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)

[–] APassenger@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It's an adaptation of the Just World fallacy.

I think it goes like this: "These things happen to people who... well, somehow God knows this is right for them. Probably punishment for something, maybe not. Punishment is less likely if they're white and church going.

But it happens for a reason. A justifiable one, even if it's inscrutable."

I think things happen for reasons too. Just not magical ones.

Edits: markdown is more challenging on mobile.

[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 31 points 11 months ago

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

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 23 points 11 months ago (9 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?

[–] Blackbeard@lemmy.world 38 points 11 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (8 replies)
[–] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 21 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works 13 points 11 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.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 16 points 11 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.

load more comments
view more: next ›