Black Woman Facing Miscarriage of Justice for Miscarrying Baby

Brittany Watts is a 33-year-old Black woman facing up to a year in prison for having a miscarriage and flushing a toilet. At 22 weeks along, Watts went to the bathroom where she miscarried her pregnancy, which is also where she disposed of the fetus which became partially lodged in her plumbing system.

Just a week prior, at 21 weeks, Watts was informed by a medical professional that she would indeed lose the pregnancy. I imagine that probably killed her spirit at almost five months along. She was informed of her impending devastation and just a few weeks later, her life would get worse. After miscarrying on Sept. 22, she went to the hospital for severe hemorrhaging, where the nurse, a person who is paid to provide medical care, called 911. Police officers subsequently went to Watts’ residence and removed her toilet as evidence. The boys in blue are always hard at work because they arrested Watts, who was later charged with “abuse of corpse” under Ohio law. Testimony from a forensic pathologist also confirmed what Brittany had been told by her doctor, that the fetus was, in fact, non-viable, and there was no harm done to the fetus.

During the hearing, the honorable judge presiding, Terry Ivanchak, stated, “There are better scholars than I am to determine the exact legal status of this fetus, corpse, body, birthing tissue, whatever it is.” A positive takeaway from that statement is that at least he is man enough to admit there are so many people who are smarter than he is.

Unfortunately, he is also a big part of determining Brittany Watts’ fate.

This case is an obvious by-product of the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and unfortunately, it is just going to get worse. Religious zealotism leaves little room for cogent thought but so much room for harmful pursuits and ridiculous criminalization. It is estimated that half of all pregnancies, particularly the first ones, end in miscarriage or the medical term ‘spontaneous abortion;’ are we sure this is something that God hates? Brittany is being charged with improper disposal of a corpse.

What was she supposed to do with the remains? How do you have a funeral for your body giving up? Miscarriage is a silent disaster for so many women who experience it.  How do you grieve the life of something that has not quite lived but is so alive inside of you? Is this the representation of justice under God? Is the prosecution of a natural occurrence the way that he would be pleased? In a world so definitive, the initiation of life is its own unique phenomenon. Two blue lines is not a guarantee of viability, it is not a life.

How do you print a death certificate before you print a birth certificate?

Those same über Christians who are pushing this stupid case through, are the same reason people are becoming more and more disheartened with religion. It is reported that half of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, most before the woman even misses a menstrual cycle or is even aware that she is pregnant. A God who is so good at making miracles seems so well-versed in taking them away. Instead of setting a ‘godly’ example of compassion, the state has decided to punish Brittany for going to the bathroom and flushing what naturally came out of her—some sh-t people literally do every day.

In fact, many women who miscarry dispose of the tissue in the same manner. A religion that sees a woman’s body as unclean when she is having a menstrual cycle could never really see women as anything but permanently defiled. Women are not mules who should be put out to pasture if they can no longer carry viable pregnancies. In a country where Black women have a maternal death rate of almost four times their white counterparts, lawmakers are not breaking their necks to save our lives but doing so to punish us for not being able to create lives, probably to fatten their pockets to fund the prison population (legalized slavery) but I digress. According to the Center of Public Integrity, a study done by Fordham University from 1973 to 2005, when abortion was legal, found that “low-income women and women of color, particularly Black women, were disproportionately criminalized while pregnant.”

It is no accident that a Black woman is being used as a cautionary tale to criminalize miscarriage. Black women have been experiencing miscarriages of justice since we were delivered to this country.