How in the world is a miscarriage a criminal offense? Apparently an Ohio woman is being criminally charged for abusing the corpse of her dead child

[Twilight Hue]

MSN

The specific charge is abusing a corpse, so that makes me think there may be more to the story than what the headline says, but even so , this woman had no control over anything and maybe she panicked about it.

I don't know, but I think these charges are ridiculous and ought to be dismissed permanently even if she did do something in panic mode. A miscarriage has absolutely nothing at all to do with an abortion, so these laws should never apply.

My hope is for justice to prevail in favor of this woman who clearly went through enough already without having to endure additional malicious prosecution on top of all that has already happened.

My thoughts on the matter so far are to leave her alone and let her grieve.

 

[crossfire]

MSN

The specific charge is abusing a corpse, so that makes me think there may be more to the story than what the headline says, but even so , this woman had no control over anything and maybe she panicked about it.

I don't know, but I think these charges are ridiculous and ought to be dismissed permanently even if she did do something in panic mode. A miscarriage has absolutely nothing at all to do with an abortion, so these laws should never apply.

My hope is for justice to prevail in favor of this woman who clearly went through enough already without having to endure additional malicious prosecution on top of all that has already happened.

My thoughts on the matter so far are to leave her alone and let her grieve.

Felony charges. Would you say that the lawmakers there are sane?

 

[Stevicus]

MSN

The specific charge is abusing a corpse, so that makes me think there may be more to the story than what the headline says, but even so , this woman had no control over anything and maybe she panicked about it.

I don't know, but I think these charges are ridiculous and ought to be dismissed permanently even if she did do something in panic mode. A miscarriage has absolutely nothing at all to do with an abortion, so these laws should never apply.

My hope is for justice to prevail in favor of this woman who clearly went through enough already without having to endure additional malicious prosecution on top of all that has already happened.

My thoughts on the matter so far are to leave her alone and let her grieve.

I saw an article about this case the other day. The prosecutor was saying it had nothing to do with the abortion law:

A prosecutor said Watts’ actions after passing the fetus are at the center of the case.

“The issue isn’t how the child died, when the child died. It’s the fact that the baby was put into a toilet, large enough to clog up the toilet, left in that toilet, and she went on her day,” prosecutor Lewis Guarnieri said at preliminary hearing last month, according to footage from WKBN.

So, basically, she's being charged with clogging up a toilet.

But then, later on in the article, it indicates that women miscarrying into toilets is something rather common.

Ohio law defines abuse of a corpse in somewhat subjective terms.

“No person, except as authorized by law, shall treat a human corpse in a way that the person knows would outrage reasonable family sensibilities,” the law states. This kind of “abuse of a corpse” would be a second-degree misdemeanor.

In addition, “No person, except as authorized by law, shall treat a human corpse in a way that would outrage reasonable community sensibilities,” the law says. A violation of these terms constitutes “gross abuse of a corpse” – a fifth-degree felony.

However, “(t)here is no law in Ohio that requires a mother suffering a miscarriage to bury or cremate those remains,” Watts’ attorney said.

“Women miscarry into toilets everyday,” Timko wrote in an email to CNN. “In fact, the Ohio Legislature has created broad immunity to women for acts or omissions during pregnancy and has admonished that women should ‘in no case’ be criminalized for the circumstances or outcomes of their pregnancies.”

“The prosecution of Ms. Watts is tragic and unjust,” she wrote. “We will continue to fight.”