An Ohio woman who miscarried during her second trimester could face a year in prison after being charged with abuse of a corpse.
Brittany Watts, a 33-year-old black woman, started passing thick blood clots during the 21st week of pregnancy.
The doctor advised her to have her labour induced, as her water had broken prematurely, meaning that there was no chance the baby would survive.
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Doctors warned that if the non-viable foetus is not delivered, she would face a “significant risk” of death.
In the following days, Watts would go through a horrifying period, while making multiple trips to the hospital and eventually miscarrying in the toilet at home.
She reportedly flushed and plunged the foetus, which was later found stuck in pipes by police.
Case reaches jury
Watts’s case was sent to a grand jury last month. As per the testimony and autopsy reports, the foetus had died in utero before passing through the birth canal.
The case sparked a nationwide debate in the country about the treatment of pregnant women in the country after the overturning of Roe v Wade, especially Black women.
Watch: One year since Roe v. Wade was overturned
Civil Rights attorney Benjamin Crump elevated Ms Watts’s plight in a post to X, formerly Twitter, and supporters have donated more than $US100,000 through GoFundMe for her legal defence, medical bills and trauma counselling.
Predicament for pregnant women
Experts have pointed out how even those women with no intention to get an abortion were being hounded by the system and charged with crimes against their own pregnancies.
“Roe was a clear legal roadblock to charging felonies for unintentionally harming pregnancies, when women were legally allowed to end their pregnancies through abortion,” said Grace Howard, assistant justice studies professor at San José State University.
“Now that Roe is gone, that roadblock is entirely gone.”
What are the abortion laws in Ohio?
In Ohio, abortion is not illegal but restricted. Last year, the Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS) overturned the historic Roe v Wade legal decision, leaving it up to the states to form their own laws.
A law signed by Republican Governor Mike DeWine in April 2019 prohibits most abortions after the first 21 weeks and six days in Ohio. When Watts first experienced the blood clots she was 21 weeks and five days pregnant.
(With inputs from agencies)
