United States: The Ohio state of the United States is in the midst of the discussion about aborting rights. After 21 weeks and five days pregnant, Brittany Watts began to pass large and thick blood clots.

Watts made her first prenatal visit to the doctor’s office behind Mercy Health-St Joseph’s Hospital in Warren, where she was told that her water had broken prematurely, while a fetal heartbeat was still present, and the baby she was carrying could not survive.

While heading towards the hospital, the 33-year-old Watts, who had not informed her family about her pregnancy, was advised to have her labor induced so she could undergo a procedure to deliver the nonviable fetus, similar to an abortion. Further, the doctor warned that she could face “significant risk” to her life, according to the Associated Press.

One Tuesday in September, a series of distressing events unfolded for Watts, including visits to the hospital, a miscarriage at home, and a subsequent police investigation. Watts, who is Black, now faces charges of abuse of a corpse, a fifth-degree felony with penalties of up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine, the news agency revealed.

Last month, her case was sent to be presented to a grand jury and has touched off a national controversy over the treatment of Black pregnant women. The issue has caught attention following the decision of the US Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade.

Watt’s garnered enormous support!

Watt’s plight was shared by the civil rights attorney – Benjamin Crump through a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, followed by which people came forward to support her and donated around US$ 100,000 via GoFundMe for her legal defense, medical bills as well as trauma counseling.

The assistant justice studies professor at San José State University – Grace Howard, mentioned that whether the anti-abortion communities charge abortion-seekers with a criminal charge or not, pregnant women like Watts, and earlier Dobbs – who don’t actually want to undergo abortion, have increasingly found themselves charged with “crimes against their own pregnancies,” according to AP.

She further said, “Roe was a clear legal roadblock to charging felonies for unintentionally harming pregnancies when women were legally allowed to end their pregnancies through abortion. Now that Roe is gone, that roadblock is entirely gone.”

In addition to Howard, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine and author of ‘Policing The Womb,’ – Michele Goodwin expressed that she is extremely overwhelmed after seeing Black and brown women, especially targeted.

While sharing stats, she underlined that several studies have underscored that as compared to White women, Black women are ten times more likely to have child protective services and law enforcement called on them.

AP quoted Goodwin saying, “Post-Dobbs, what we see is kind of a wild, wild West,” and she further added, “You see this kind of muscle-flexing by district attorneys and prosecutors wanting to show that they are going to be vigilant, they’re going to take down women who violate the ethos coming out of the state’s legislature.”

Watt’s hospital ordeal puts the spotlight on abortion rights debate

During the time when Watts had a miscarriage, abortion was allowed in Ohio for up to 21 weeks and six days. Her lawyer, Traci Timko, mentioned that Watts left the hospital on Wednesday – the exact date when her pregnancy reached that limit. However, she received care after waiting for eight (8) hours.

Timko blamed the delays on the hospital officials, who deliberated over the legalities. “It was the fear of, is this going to constitute an abortion and are we able to do that,” she said, according to AP.

It has been revealed that Watts had sought medical assistance in the Catholic hospital twice after complaining about vaginal bleeding; however, she was left untreated. A nurse, via 911 dispatcher, said that Watts did not return pregnant on Friday. She outlined that Watt told her that she didn’t want the child and “the baby is her backyard in a bucket,” according to the reports by AP.

A similar heart-wrenching story from Texas!

A white Texas mother named Kate Cox recently battled against the restrictive abortion law because of the fatal condition of her fetus. It is to be noted that the Republican Attorney General of Texas – Ken Paxton, mounted an aggressive and successful defense against her.