The Criminalization of Women People Following the Overturn of Roe v. Wade and the implications that it has on Mothers to be.
In September of 2023, 34-year-old Brittany Watts was 22 weeks pregnant when her pregnancy was deemed non-viable. This news was already horrible to live with but the event following her miscarriage would become even more shocking. Her miscarriage happened while she was in her home, she would later find out that she would be facing criminal charges in the state of Ohio for her actions.
Now, Brittany did dispose of the fetus herself because it was already deemed nonviable. Her miscarriage took place in her own bathroom of her own home. She was arrested two weeks later on charges of felony abuse of a corpse for how how she handled the remains. A woman who wrote the book, Roe: The History of a National Obsession, Mary Ziegler spoke out about this specific case. She said on PBS, “So, essentially, I think what prosecutors are faulting Brittany Watts for is not grieving in the way they thought was appropriate following her miscarriage.” She was then asked if there are any laws in Ohio or anywhere else around this term and how you should handle a miscarriage or report that a miscarriage occurred. Mary responded with, ” No. I mean, so if you are pregnant and you’re looking for guidance about what to do when you experience a miscarriage, the only information you’re likely to find is what you should do to protect your own health, essentially when you should seek medical attention, when you may be experiencing complications versus when you can handle whatever’s happening at home.” This would strongly suggest that Brittany handled the situation in the way that she was supposed to and had no reason to seek any other medical care for a fetus that was not even viable.
This interview points out that there are no clear instructions on what to do when you experience a miscarriage at home. It is unfair that she is being prosecuted for something that has never been clearly stated on what to do when this particular situation occurs. She also mentions that in the way of the Constitution a fetus is not viewed as a rights holding person but we treat it like one for the sake of “abusing a corpse.”
Mary states, “We treat is as a person for the purposes of fetal homicide law, or wrongful death law, or intestacy law, to sort of put incremental pressure on a conservative Supreme Court to move toward the recognition of personhood.” Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade it has sort of opened up more of a discussion for cases such as this one in criminalizing pregnant persons. The overturn of Roe v. Wade was a devastating step back for women regardless of pro-choice or pro-life there is a sense of comfort that women have in knowing that they at least get the choice and that was stripped away. Now even if someone doesn’t handle their miscarriage in the exact way that the law expects them to they will be prosecuted and even face around a year in jail. Miscarrying a child is a hard experience as is, why must we put in rules and regulations for what it is supposed to look like for everyone, and if there are rules about how a miscarriage is supposed to be handled it at least needs to be clearly stated in order for someone to follow it correctly.
After my introduction/thesis I want to give some more examples of how women today are being negatively effected by the externalities of the overturn of Roe V. Wade. I will talk more about the issues it causes and what can be done to help these women and what policy/ change can be made so that there are no more stories like Brittany’s.
Then my conclusion will wrap it up.
1 Identify and discuss the organizational pattern (or the closest one to it) from the Arranging a Policy Speech Keyword. Is this a good structure for the topic and policy arguments? Make some comments or suggestions.
The organizational pattern that I believe you are using is the problem/cause/solution pattern and for your topic I think this structure fits very well. Talking about the problem at the beginning and providing some more examples of how women today are affected by Roe v Wade is a great start to the piece. Followed by the causes such as how the laws on how one would deal with a fetus after a miscarriage are not set in stone will help show how this is a pressing matter that needs to be discussed more and changes made. Lastly providing a possible solution will help tie the whole piece together and would make the piece very effective.
2. Do the topic sentences point back to the thesis and/or make the argumentative claim for the paragraph? Give one strong example or one example of a sentence that could be improved.
I think you did a good job so far with your topic sentences and for the most part, they point back to the thesis well. The only change I would make is maybe add a sentence before the second paragraph where you talk about Brittany disposing of the fetus or maybe combine the first and second paragraphs since they have similar topics. I also think maybe making a new paragraph when you start to talk about Mary Ziegler could work well. But overall, the rest of the piece is great!!
3. How is the evidence working as of now? Do we need more research? Where in the paper would more evidence (and what kinds of evidence) be helpful?
So far, I think the evidence is working well. I like the fact that you started with a real story of how a mother was being charged since this shows the importance of the issue. I also think that the other evidence from professionals helps the piece and as you said you will be providing more stories like Brittany’s, and I think that will make a great piece when it is all finished.
4. How are the infographs working? If there are no infographs yet, please provide ideas for them.
So far you do not have infographics, (I don’t either lolz) but your topic has the possibility of many different infographics which is great. One possible graph you could make is the abortion laws in each state or maybe a graph that shows how many women are being charged/jailed for similar acts as Brittany.
1 Identify and discuss the organizational pattern (or the closest one to it) from the Arranging a Policy Speech Keyword. Is this a good structure for the topic and policy arguments? Make some comments or suggestions.
I’d definitely say that you’re using the problem-cause-solution pattern. I think this is a great and organized way to structure this. Introducing the problem with real life examples is a clever way to get people engaged. The cause is clear when you mention the laws set in place, causing these women’s issues. I think introducing a possible solution will definitely strengthen your paper and make it more complete.
2. Do the topic sentences point back to the thesis and/or make the argumentative claim for the paragraph? Give one strong example or one example of a sentence that could be improved.
I particularly liked the claim that “The overturn of Roe v. Wade was a devastating step back for women regardless of pro-choice or pro-life. There is a sense of comfort that women have in knowing that they at least get the choice and that was stripped away.” I like that it encapsulates ALL women, despite people’s opposing beliefs. Hence, your argument brings greater concern to women and their health primarily.
3. How is the evidence working as of now? Do we need more research? Where in the paper would more evidence (and what kinds of evidence) be helpful?
I love the way that you’re using evidence so far. I saw that you mentioned that you were going to add more IRL stories and examples, which seems beneficial. I liked how you used that story at the beginning, which really set this paper off on a promising note.
4. How are the infographs working? If there are no infographs yet, please provide ideas for them.
No infographics, but I like Laenee’s idea on using graphs about abortion laws and stats/rates on women being charged or in legal trouble.