This story is absolutely terrible but it's, sadly, important to keep them visible so "moderates" know exactly what will happen if republicans take control on a national level. This is the future for all women if they were to take the WH and both chambers of Congress. They already have the Supreme Court for at least 15-20 years even if a Republican is never elected President again.
People have been talking about the possibility of this exact situation for decades. Any moderates who have not heard it simply don't want to hear it
The public has the memory of a goldfish. We're less than 3 years out from the single worst administration in the history of this country, and we're seriously considering putting him back in office.
I personally don't think that's cause they forgot, I think that's cause Americans are way more fascist than most left leaning folks are willing to admit to themselves. The idea the left pushes is that most people are good, but just apathetic and don't vote. I think many Americans are horrible fascist assholes. We can't depend on the silent majority, because they suck too.
Evil never sleeps while good just wants to exist in peace.
Good people don't try as hard to enforce their will because they're not selfish assholes. Nor can they understand that bad people will literally do everything they can to get their way.
The GOP already packed the court by acting in bad faith with Obama. There's no reason we shouldn't just appoint more judges. 9 has not always been the size of the court, and the size is not restricted by the Constitution.
Far worse than that, Republicans are vying for and have run practice sessions for a "Convention of the States", where basically states (which are predominantly Republican controlled, in spite of population distributions) can come together and decide which Federal laws they want to adhere to.
Basically, the situation you're fear mongering over is far closer than even you make out it to be.
A convention of the states is infinitely worse. It is basically a rewriting of the Constitution. Koch has been funding this. In this political climate imagine what happens when we let fascist billionaires create us a new govt. Holy fucking shit.
This is why state elections are so crucially important. We normal non-assholes need to not just vote but be involved in local and state elections. Donating time, money, even running for offices.
States can shield us from a lot of the bad shit happening at a national level if we elect halfway decent people.
You need to show me a birth and death certificate for that to be a corpse.
And then she gets a child credit in her taxes.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Remember guys, both sides are the same. We should probably vote third party or something. /S
I grew up in Ohio.
Don't live in Ohio.
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.
Their exit velocity when leaving Ohio is so high that they simply can't stop themselves from catapulting into space.
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.
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.
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.
The context your tldr is missing is that the hospital she went to ignored her and left her waiting.
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.
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?
Unfortunately since it happened in September it happened before the vote took place. Still despicable though
It was passed in November but didn't take effect until December 7th. This story happened in September.
Soon public bathrooms in America can have birth certificate dispensers for all the miscarriages that are apparently corpses now.
This the Future Republicans want for their Daughters!
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)
Do you want another civil war… because this is how you get another civil war.
This is horrific on so many levels. I can't imagine how much trauma this is all causing. 😭
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.
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?
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.
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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