In 14 states across America abortions are banned with no exceptions, Florida being one of those 14 states. In abortion banned states there have been over 64,000 pregnancies due to rape and sexual assault, a large chunk of those pregnancies being children and teens. A woman or girl shouldn’t be forced to carry a child they were unwillingly given. Moreover, women who miscarry shouldn’t be considered murderers or have to go on trial to determine if they forcefully miscarried.
According to sources from CBS News, Brittany Watts, a woman from Ohio had a miscarriage in her home and was soon after sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment. Just days prior to her miscarriage doctors claimed her fetus was nonviable and that there was no possible way the 22-week old would come out live-born. On September 22, 2023 Brittany knew she was miscarrying and spent a painful 19 hours begging doctors at Mercy Health – St. Joseph Hospital to induce her while she was bleeding and in excruciating pain. However, the doctors wouldn’t take Brittany in due to concerns about Ohio’s abortion laws, therefore resulting in delayed care. Against the hospitals wishes Brittany left and miscarried alone in her bathroom. When Brittany returned to the hospital she claimed a nurse rubbed her back and told her everything would be okay before proceeding to call the police and asking them to go retrieve her fetus.
As she recovered in her hospital bed, police were raiding her home to find the fetus she had just lost. Eventually police found the fetus lodged in the traps of her toilet. Watts was charged with abuse of a corpse — a charge that was dropped quickly after a grand jury declined to indict her. According to Ohio’s laws, abortion is banned after 22 weeks. Watt’s records show at the time of the miscarriage she was 21 weeks and 6 days pregnant. After long court proceedings Watts was declared free of charge on January 11, 2024.
An anonymous student volunteered to read about Brittany Watts and share their opinions on abortion rights: “What happened to Brittany Watts was super unfair and the fact that she was borderline sent to jail because she miscarried is insane. It’s such a sad story and she deserved better than what she got. Not only did she just figure out she was going to give birth to a stillborn baby, right after that she miscarried, it sucks.”
Things like this are more common than you would think, but they shouldn’t be. Roe v. Wade was put in place to protect women from situations like this but it’s being used against them instead. Women shouldn’t be afraid of pregnancy because of the laws of America, everyone deserves rights to their bodies.
