13

The Gaza war thread was back leading the most active thread list over the weekend. It has less traffic than in the past, but is obviously still quite active. The most active thread after that one over the weekend was titled, "Woman charged with felony for having a stillbirth" and posted in the "Off-Topic" forum. The original poster linked to a story about a woman in Ohio who had a stillbirth at 22 weeks of pregnancy. She attempted to flush the remains down the toilet but the toilet clogged. She was arrested and charged with felony abuse of a corpse. According to court testimony, the woman had gone to the doctor twice about her pregnancy. But, beyond that, there are very few details that are known about this case. As a result, many posters made assumptions or educated guesses about what occurred. This, in turn, spurred a lot of complaints about the thread and even a separate thread in the "Website Feedback" forum. Some posters were upset about the thread's title because, strictly speaking, the woman's charges concern the treatment of the remains rather than the stillbirth itself. Very few posters in this thread believe the case is really about how the woman treated the remains of her stillbirth. One of the most common theories is that this is part of an effort to grant fetuses personhood and, therefore, make abortion tantamount to murder. As such, much of this discussion is wrapped up in posters' views about abortion. Abortion opponents tend to see this as the woman having delivered a baby — albeit not one that was alive — and mishandling its corpse in a callous manner. They object to this treatment of a baby's corpse and think the woman should be held accountable. However, such posters are very much in the minority. There is considerable suspicion that Ohio's restrictive abortion laws contributed to this situation, with posters speculating that the woman had been denied dilation and curettage surgery and was forced to undergo a miscarriage. The thread is dominated by posters who are outraged by the charges against the woman. Several posters provided first-hand accounts of their own miscarriages and argued that the woman's behavior was perfectly normal and understandable. For many posters, this case represents a further erosion of women's rights. They argue that women are being held accountable for natural processes and that the opinions of mostly male, mostly fundamentalist Christian lawmakers are being imposed on them. One thing that comes across in this thread is the visceral reaction of many posters, especially those who have dealt personally with miscarriages. For many, this is not a theoretical dispassionate discussion, but a deeply personal topic that causes real anger.