Criminalizing: Abortion: Jessica Valenti, of 'Abortion, Every Day', tells the disturbing story of a Pennsylvania teenager who is being investigated for 'self-managing" - allegedly 'abuse of a corpse'after self-managing an abortion and burying the fetus in her backyard…"In other criminalization news, this story out of Pennsylvania is just gutting. A teenager there is being investigated for 'abuse of a corpse' after self-managing an abortion and burying the fetus in her backyard. If you're a regular reader, you know these cases tend to follow a very specific pattern—and this one is no exception. People are often arrested or investigated under charges that seem to have little to do with abortion—like practicing medicine without a license for using abortion pills, or abuse of a corpse because of how fetal remains were handled. We also tend to see sensationalized local media coverage that treats someone's pregnancy loss as a crime story, with articles that often solely rely on prosecutors' claims and police records. (This is exactly what happened to Brittany Watts.) In the case of this Pennsylvania teen, headlines claim a "baby" was buried in a backyard, or refer to it as a "gravesite." One article even cited the executive director of an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center as an 'expert.' You can guess how that went. Often, those criminalized are turned in by someone they trusted—health care providers, friends, family. Here, it was a 'friend' who went to police with text messages the teen had sent about her pregnancy and abortion. And while we don't know much about this teen's background, we do know those most often targeted in these cases are low-income, women of color, immigrants, or people struggling with housing or substance use. Prosecutors go after these women and girls because they think that no one will care, and that they'll come across as unsympathetic. All of which is to say: These cases follow a pattern, for better and worse. It's a nightmare to see this happen again and again—but it's helpful to know what to look for. The good-ish news is that so far, police have not brought charges against the Pennsylvania teen. But the fact that she's been questioned by police—her pregnancy loss and private messages with a friend blasted all over local media—is disgusting. Even when charges aren't brought, or end up being dropped, there is still an incredible amount of damage done. I think often of the Georgia woman whose miscarriage was investigated by police after she lost her pregnancy in a public bathroom. Imagine going through this kind of trauma, and then having to defend yourself to cops."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Attacking Science, Medicine and the Right to Live:  In recent years, I have taken on the  theme of 'criminalizing reproduction' - a natural theme for a Blog concerned with  flawed science in its myriad forms  - as I am utterly appalled by  the current movement in the United States (and some other countries) emboldened by the overturning of Roe Versus Wade,  towards imprisoning and conducting surveillance on women and their physicians and others who help them secure a safe abortion,  on the basis of sham science (or any other basis). I can’t remember the source, but agree  totally with the sentiment that control over their reproductive lives is far too important to women in America - or anywhere else -  so they can  participate  equally in the economic and social life of their nations without fear for  loss their freedom at the hands of political opportunists and fanatics. (Far too many of those those around these days.) '

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY:"This can happen anywhere—even a state with abortion protections in place. Yes, fetal personhood laws make things exponentially worse, but we've seen these kinds of investigations in pro-choice states and even before Roe was overturned. (Just a few months ago, a woman in my home state of New York was investigated for her miscarriage.))

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STORY: "Pennsylvania Teen Investigated for Self-Managing Abortion," by Jessica Valenti, published by Her Blog 'Abortion, Every Day', on March 20, 2025. SUB-HEADING: 'Criminalizing Care.' GIST: "I'm still watching what's happening in Texas, and I'll update you if anything new breaks about the three people arrested on abortion charges. In the meantime, I have two other criminalization stories for you. Longtime readers will remember Brittany Watts, the Ohio woman charged with 'abuse of a corpse' after she miscarried at home. A grand jury thankfully declined to indict Watts—but not before her name and pregnancy loss were splashed across headlines, her reputation dragged through the mud. That's why I was glad to see Watts fight back. In January, she filed a suit against the city of Warren, the hospital where she was 'treated,' the police officer who interrogated her in a hospital bed, the doctor who denied her care, and the nurses who reported her—despite the fact that she had done nothing illegal. You can read Watts' full and damning allegations here. The tl;dr version is that two nurses and a police officer conspired to "fabricate evidence to falsely implicate" Watts in criminal conduct: "They knowingly created reports and hospital notes that contained blatantly false information. As a result, Ms. Watts was arrested and charged with a felony: abuse of a corpse. She faced a year in prison for simply having a miscarriage at home." This week, the city of Warren responded to the suit. They're arguing that the city has no legal responsibility for any harm caused to Watts, and that they acted in good faith after a nurse called police. The filing also called the interrogation of Watts—which was conducted while she was in a hospital bed connected to IVs—a "consensual interview." I'll keep you updated as I find out more—or if the hospital, nurses or police officer respond to Watts' suit. For all the details, read Abortion, Every Day's coverage below: In other criminalization news, this story out of Pennsylvania is just gutting. A teenager there is being investigated for 'abuse of a corpse' after self-managing an abortion and burying the fetus in her backyard. If you're a regular reader, you know these cases tend to follow a very specific pattern—and this one is no exception. People are often arrested or investigated under charges that seem to have little to do with abortion—like practicing medicine without a license for using abortion pills, or abuse of a corpse because of how fetal remains were handled. We also tend to see sensationalized local media coverage that treats someone's pregnancy loss as a crime story, with articles that often solely rely on prosecutors' claims and police records. (This is exactly what happened to Brittany Watts.) In the case of this Pennsylvania teen, headlines claim a "baby" was buried in a backyard, or refer to it as a "gravesite." One article even cited the executive director of an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center as an 'expert.' You can guess how that went. Often, those criminalized are turned in by someone they trusted—health care providers, friends, family. Here, it was a 'friend' who went to police with text messages the teen had sent about her pregnancy and abortion. And while we don't know much about this teen's background, we do know those most often targeted in these cases are low-income, women of color, immigrants, or people struggling with housing or substance use. Prosecutors go after these women and girls because they think that no one will care, and that they'll come across as unsympathetic. All of which is to say: These cases follow a pattern, for better and worse. It's a nightmare to see this happen again and again—but it's helpful to know what to look for. The good-ish news is that so far, police have not brought charges against the Pennsylvania teen. But the fact that she's been questioned by police—her pregnancy loss and private messages with a friend blasted all over local media—is disgusting. Even when charges aren't brought, or end up being dropped, there is still an incredible amount of damage done. I think often of the Georgia woman whose miscarriage was investigated by police after she lost her pregnancy in a public bathroom. Imagine going through this kind of trauma, and then having to defend yourself to cops. This latest story is also a brutal reminder of two things: This can happen anywhere—even a state with abortion protections in place. Yes, fetal personhood laws make things exponentially worse, but we've seen these kinds of investigations in pro-choice states and even before Roe was overturned. (Just a few months ago, a woman in my home state of New York was investigated for her miscarriage.) 'Viability' language and laws are dangerous. Reports suggest this teen was told she was too far along for an abortion, so she sought out abortion medication. In Pennsylvania, abortion is legal until 24 weeks; presumably, police investigated because they believed the pregnancy was past 'viability'. Leaving aside for a moment that 'viability' isn't a real medical standard, a coroner's report says that this teen's fetus was just past 20 weeks—a month too early to be considered legally viable. So if she'd been a few weeks further along, would she have been arrested? If it was a few weeks earlier, would police have backed off? Why is this a question at all? https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/2467579545350700130 PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am grateful to 'Authory' a valuable service which  creates a portfolio of all of my posts since I fired  my  first post into the cybersphere  on the   Charles Smith Blog    on September 29, 2007, some 17 years ago. Today's post is number 11, 784  Yikes! Yes, this is a compulsion, but it's a healthy one ! One of the best features of 'Authory'  (which I am trying out on the Blog for the first time, is a search engine for the portfolio  which  makes it easier  for  readers to follow the many important cases, issues and developments (and occasional rants)  in the area of flawed  pathology, flawed pathologists, and whatever else might cross my mind  in jurisdictions throughout the world which are at the heart of the Blog. So, dear reader, you can access the portfolio at the following link. Just type the inquiry into the  search box  at the following link,  and hit enter.  (The search box is on the top write side of the page under 'Read more.' Why not try it out, and,  as encouraging  use of this search function  by my readers is rather new to me, any feedback on how it is working would be appreciated at: hlevy15@gmail.com. Cheers! https://authory.com/HaroldLevy Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. ————————————————————————————————————— PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985 ——————————————————————————————— FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices." Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; ————————————————————————————————— FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true! Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project; ----------------------------------------------------------------