The Left is rallying literally and metaphorically behind an Ohio woman, who avoided being indicted by a grand jury after she was accused of flushing her stillborn baby down the toilet. She then went on with “her day.”
Brittany Watts, 34, was not indicted by a Trumbull County grand jury on Thursday for felony abuse of a corpse. This crime carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of $2,500.
The allegations against Watts are heart-wrenching. Watts, according to reports, had visited a Catholic Hospital in Warren, Ohio (about an hour south of Cleveland) multiple times before her miscarriage. A doctor told Watts that her 22-week-old unborn baby was not viable, and recommended she induce labor to prevent “significant risk” to her life.
Watts miscarried at some point in time, though the exact date is not known. Watts scooped out at least part of the stillborn baby’s remains from her toilet and placed them near her garage, according to reports. Court documents state that a nurse reported to the police later that Watts placed the baby into a bucket.
Watts tried to flush away some of the remains, but they remained. She didn’t seem to succeed, as the remains ended up clogging her toilet. Watts allegedly then left the remains to attend a hair appointment.
Lewis Guarnieri, the prosecutor, argued that the issue was not how or when the child had died. It’s not the child dying, but the fact that it was placed in a toilet large enough to block a toilet and left there, while the mother went about her day.
Watts, as well as her lawyer Traci Timko, have acknowledged the gravity of the situation.
Watts told The Washington Post that she was grieving for the loss of her baby. “I feel anger, frustration, and, at times, shame.”
Timko stated in a press release that “no matter how shocking or distressing it may sound in public, it’s simply the devastating truth of miscarriage.”
Leftists erupted in glee when the grand jury refused to indict Watts despite her apparent apathy towards her infant. Activists were already planning a “We Stand with Brittany!” rally. Rally in the square of the courthouse. The group of 150 supporters, who were holding signs claiming that the prosecutors abused their power and that Watts’ “real crimes” were “sexism”, “racism” and “political extremism”, were able to turn the event into a victory celebration after the decision to not indict.
Watts, who has been an activist for years or is a newcomer after her miscarriage – said she felt compelled by the rally to join in their “fight.” “I would like to thank my community, Warren. “Warren, Ohio,” said she, smiling. “I was raised here. “I was born here. “I graduated from high school here and I will continue to live here because I must continue to fight.”
Her lawyer said that she has expressed her hope and expectation that her case would be “an impetus for change”.
Other leftist groups stand in solidarity with Watts. They see her as a black woman who is a victim of systemic racism. “What happened with Brittany Watts shows how Black women, and their bodies, face legal threats just for existing,” Dr. Regina Davis Moss, president and CEO at Our Own Voice. This is a pro-abortion, racially motivated organization. “Her story has become alarmingly familiar: In states that have abortion restrictions, Black girls, women, and people who are gender-expansive face being watched, arrested, prosecuted, and punished for miscarriage.”
Sarah Jones, an Intelligencer writer at New York Magazine, said that by treating Watts’s stillborn child as a human, prosecutors promoted a “pernicious ideology” that denied Watts “personhood.” When agents of law treat the fetus like a human being – an infant or child in the words used by the prosecutor and the nurse – the woman carrying it becomes something different. She is not human, but a vessel.
Jones then cited Watts as calling her stillborn child a “baby.”
Timko said that the decision of the grand jury was “justice.”
She said: “While Brittany’s fight for freedom has ended, she stands in solidarity with all women and will use her experience and story to educate others and to push for legislation so that no other woman will be forced to put her healing from trauma and grief on the back burner while fighting for her freedom or reputation.”
