Comanche County Jail, @JessicaValenti/Twitter
October 25, 2021, 7:00 am
An Oklahoma woman was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison following a miscarriage, and women’s rights advocates are saying this is exactly the kind of injustice they’ve been worried about under a government more concerned with fetuses than actual people.
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21-year-old Brittney Poolaw suffered a miscarriage in early 2020, when she was roughly four months pregnant. The fetus was not assigned a cause of death, although the medical examiner said that it could have been due to a congenital abnormality and placenta abruption.
But because methamphetamine was found in the fetus’s brain and liver, the district attorney decided to argue that drug use was the cause of the miscarriage, in spite of the medical examiner’s report.
And because Oklahoma has a law that provides for a felony charge if someone dies while a misdemeanor is being committed — in this case, drug use — Poolaw was able to be charged with and convicted of manslaughter.
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The National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) has argued that “Oklahoma’s murder and manslaughter laws do not apply to miscarriages, which are pregnancy losses that occur before 20 weeks, a point in pregnancy before a fetus is viable (able to survive outside of the womb).”
“And, even when applied to later losses, Oklahoma law prohibits prosecution of the ‘mother of the unborn child’ unless she committed ‘a crime that caused the death of the unborn child,’” their statement continues, which they argue the medical examiner’s report suggests does not apply in this case.
Poolaw’s conviction and sentencing has drawn outrage and sharp condemnation online
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Absolutely a monstrous human rights violation on par with the sort of things this country likes to scold others for allowing to happen. Beyond tired of hearing Americans present themselves as moral authorities on anything. https://t.co/ofdUBqaXCf
— della ~
not your selfie obscura (@della_morte_) October 22, 2021
American Exceptionalism
Punishment for miscarriage-
4 years Prison.Punishment for Treason/Sedition
2 Months Jail
—
Resist
(@LoveNotWar313) October 24, 2021
It’s also serving as a warning that we’re on a downward path right now as a country, bowing to the whims of the conservative minority and at risk of losing even more rights.
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Overturning Roe v. Wade could send more women to prison for abortions, miscarriages.
This year alone, state legislators have introduced nearly 600 abortion restrictions, with more than 90 becoming law, according to Planned Parenthood. https://t.co/vgXws2tQjO
—
McSpocky
#BuildBackBetter (@mcspocky) October 22, 2021
Poolaw’s attorney intends to appeal the sentence, although she had already served 18 months awaiting the initial trial and sentencing.
*First Published: October 25, 2021, 7:00 am
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