BRITTANY WATTS GRAND JURY DECISION IS ONE INSTANCE OF JUSTICE IN A LARGELY BROKEN SYSTEM
Last week, a grand jury in Warren, Ohio made the decision to dismiss Brittany Watts’ case that sought to criminalize her miscarriage. New Voices stands in solidarity with Ms. Watts and her family and friends, however, it’s important to note the injustice done towards her cannot be undone.
Contact:
Hannah Litchfield
hannah@newvoicesrj.org
(215) 315-3190
Pittsburgh, PA (January 16, 2024) - Last week, a grand jury in Warren, Ohio made the decision to dismiss Brittany Watts’ case that sought to criminalize her miscarriage. New Voices stands in solidarity with Ms. Watts and her family and friends, however, it’s important to note the injustice done towards her cannot be undone. True justice for Ms. Watts would have come in the form of humanization and care for a Black woman's mental and maternal health who was clearly in a lot of pain and terrified. She, like so many Black birthing people in this country, just needed someone to listen.
Reproductive Justice is a call for transformative reproductive policy. We require policy that reckons with and seeks to transform the violent impacts of institutional racism, criminalization, policing, silencing and loss of life of people who choose to start families or not. We require policy that broadens the landscape of Reproductive Justice.
This court case is one example of what happens when state abortion laws are vague and maliciously confusing. Punitive measures give doctors pause in the middle of critical medical junctures and prevent birthing people who need immediate care from receiving it. Although Ms. Watts' case specifically focused on the usage of her own fetus after miscarriage, the state of reproductive justice policy that must center the right to choose still applies. Reproductive Justice advocates are fighting against racist & religious moral conservatism that believe that personhood starts at conception. We know the criminalization of such efforts does not just impact abortion access, it impacts the future of family planning in this country.
“What Ms. Watts had to endure highlights a failure of the hospital system and legislative process in the state of Ohio,” says New Voices’ Mobilization Director, Katherine MacHolmes, “Just a few weeks after the police were called on Ms. Watts, Ohio citizens passed Issue 1 to further protect the bodily autonomy of birthing people in the state. It is clear that what the people want and need is directly in opposition to those who hold positions of power.”
The Black maternal health crisis in this country requires immediate attention. While the grand jury decision last week brought relief for one individual, it is certainly not justice for the countless Black birthing people in this country who face death, medical abuse and trauma, and criminalization just for trying to start their family, birth a child, create kin, or make decisions for their own bodies.
New Voices remains committed to taking a stand in support of Black birthing people across the country who face racist, sexist, traumatic abuses of power against their own bodies, families, and communities. We will not rest in our relentless pursuit of a future where Black women, girls, and birthing people can live lives free of institutional oppression and violence.