In case you missed it, Brittany Watts, a mother of 3, has been criminalized for miscarrying at home in Ohio. At 22-weeks pregnant, she was told by doctors that her pregnancy was no longer viable and later that week, miscarried alone at home.

Brittany is yet another victim of the seemingly endless assaults on birthing people in this country.

Join us in demanding that prosecutors stop pursuing a criminal indictment against Brittany Watts.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
Date: Dec 21 2023, 2:27 p.m.
From: Beatriz, MomsRising.org ([email protected])
To: Friend
Subject: QUICK SIGNATURE: A Grave Miscarriage of Justice. Justice for Brittany Watts

This story is heartbreaking. A 33-year-old Black mother to three children is being criminalized for miscarrying at home in Ohio and being charged with a fifth degree felony, punishable for up to a year. Pregnancy Loss is NOT a Crime.

At almost 22 weeks pregnant, Brittany Watts was at home painfully processing what doctors had told her just a couple of days prior, that her pregnancy was not viable. A few days later she miscarried in her bathroom and returned to the hospital where a nurse called law enforcement.

As many as 30 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriages, usually in the first trimester and often before a woman knows she is pregnant. Late miscarriages, such as Watts’s, are relatively rare, and doctors say that there’s no clear guidance for how fetal remains should be handled.

In the past seven years, Ohio is among several states that enacted laws mandating that products of pregnancy be buried or cremated, although these rules typically apply to a health-care setting such as a clinic or doctor’s office rather than individuals who experience a pregnancy loss at home or elsewhere. A judge last year blocked Ohio’s law from being enforced pending a legal battle.

Brittany Watts is still grieving the loss of her pregnancy at a time when she now has to worry about facing jail time if an Ohio grand jury indicts her on charges resulting from the potentially fatal miscarriage she experienced alone at home. It is outrageous and horrific that after enduring a life threatening miscarriage which, according to her health care providers, Brittany is now being maliciously prosecuted for a pregnancy outcome that she never wanted.

A forensic pathologist attested in the coroner’s report that there was no injury to the fetus and that the fetus had died before passing through the birth canal. Currently, there is no clear legal guidance in Ohio on how hospitals and clinics should treat the remains of a miscarriage and yet Brittany Watts is being cruelly punished by the criminal justice system for how she handled herself after this traumatic loss.

Brittany is another victim of the seemingly endless assaults on birthing people in this country: the maternal mortality crisis, the closure of maternity wards, strict abortion laws and outright bans, maternal mental health deserts, and on and on. In this crisis that women and birthing people are facing, Black women bear the biggest brunt of the onslaught.

Join us, the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, and many others, in demanding that prosecutors stop pursuing a criminal indictment against Brittany Watts. We are clear that this attack is meritless, traumatic and should be stopped.

*After you click through to sign on, please post the action link on social media and share with friends. The more of us who sign on, the faster we’ll get to real justice.

- Beatriz, Diarra, Kelsey, Gina, Monifa, Kristin, and the whole MomsRising.org & MamásConPoder Team

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