A grand jury refused to charge the Ohio woman who miscarried in her bathroom.
Grand juries were added to the Fifth Amendment to check a potentially tyrannical government. (Not all states are required to use Grand Juries because Grand Juries were not incorporated through the due process clause but the idea comes from the 5th Amendment)
What horrifies me the most is the fact anybody anywhere would even consider criminally charging a woman, any woman anywhere anytime for a miscarriage ... especially one that was inevitable and for which she should have been in hospital for ...
This is the type of thing many Americans vilify 'third world' and 'communist' countries for ...
And the fact it happens in what Americans claim is the greatest country in the world; the richest country in the world; the "leader of the free world'; ... is shameful ...
@Nazani abortion and birth control were largely legal, though. It was only later when women began acquiring rights that these things came under attack.
@Teri_Kanefield
That is certainly true, and why we aren't seeing this happen already.
I just have a wish that it would be so and that we can please have a government that disciplines bad behavior
@Teri_Kanefield I am puzzled about how it was decided which parts of the Bill of Rights were extended to apply to the states by the 14th amendment and which were not. The language certainly doesn't make that clear.
@Teri_Kanefield this case was so beyond ridiculous in the first place. Minority rule, corrected by the grand jury, thankfully. Thanks for your writing and research and all that you do, Teri.
@Teri_Kanefield as I was just reading about the abuse of grand juries by the Nixon administration, it's hard to resist a minor reply-guy caveat that they can cut both ways. And while that harassment campaign against political radicals and drug suspects was eventually halted, it upended a lot of lives and caused a lot of harm. But I don't mean to debate your core point, just add some color and depth to it
@Teri_Kanefield While we certainly can (and should) laud the grand jurors for injecting some sanity and compassion into this horror, the fact that investigators, prosecutors, and at least one judge failed to do so first remains a great shame.
@Teri_Kanefield@mattblaze Especially horrifying how the hospital acted. Women will die because they're scared to go to the hospital in emergencies like this one.
@mattblaze@Teri_Kanefield Because I am old enough to remember life for women before Roe v. Wade, nothing about this surprises me. Many, many, many women went through this when they miscarried. A woman's doctor called the police if a woman miscarried in the doctor's office. This was standard--and it's why women supported legalizing abortion. Gen Xers, millennials and Z-ers are just beginning to discover what the revocation of Roe v. Wade means to them personally.
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