Brittany Watts, middle, speaks to a rally of supporters, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, in Warren, Ohio. A grand jury determined that Watts, who was dealing with legal costs for her dealing with of a house miscarriage, is not going to be charged. Congressional Democrats are utilizing Watts’ case to name for Biden to do extra on abortion rights and safety for pregnant sufferers.

Sue Ogrocki/AP

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Sue Ogrocki/AP

Brittany Watts, middle, speaks to a rally of supporters, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, in Warren, Ohio. A grand jury determined that Watts, who was dealing with legal costs for her dealing with of a house miscarriage, is not going to be charged. Congressional Democrats are utilizing Watts’ case to name for Biden to do extra on abortion rights and safety for pregnant sufferers.

Sue Ogrocki/AP

Democratic members of Congress are urging the Biden administration to do extra to guard pregnant sufferers looking for medical remedy from legal prosecution – a risk they are saying has intensified within the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 resolution overturning a long time of abortion-rights precedent.

The new letter, spearheaded by the Democratic Women’s Caucus, references the case of Brittany Watts, an Ohio lady who faced felony charges after struggling a miscarriage final yr.

Hospital officers known as police after Watts got here in looking for remedy for her being pregnant loss. Watts was investigated and initially charged with abuse of a corpse below state legislation. The letter notes {that a} grand jury finally declined to maneuver ahead with the case, however says “irreparable harm has already been done and we must ensure this never happens to anyone again.”

The letter, signed by greater than 150 members of Congress, calls on the Biden administration to make use of federal assets to research such instances, and to supply authorized and monetary assist to sufferers dealing with the specter of legal prosecution due to being pregnant outcomes. It additionally urges Biden administration officers together with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to research conditions through which healthcare officers could have breached the privateness of pregnant sufferers.

Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, the DWC’s White House liaison, stated she was disturbed to see healthcare staff concerned in reporting Watts.

“You don’t get to pick up the phone, violate a person’s HIPAA rights, and then say to this person, ‘I’m consoling you with one hand and calling the police to have a person arrested on the other hand,'” Beatty stated in an interview with NPR.

The letter describes Watts’ expertise as “all too common for Black women, who disproportionately experience adverse pregnancy outcomes due to inadequate health care, and disproportionately experience disrespect, abuse, and punitive responses when they seek pregnancy-related care.”

In November, Ohio voters approved an modification defending abortion rights within the state’s structure. That vote got here after a near-total abortion ban took impact in 2022 in response to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health resolution.

In the aftermath of the Dobbs resolution, Biden has faced calls from some main Democrats to do extra to guard abortion rights.

The administration has taken a number of steps, together with telling healthcare suppliers that they must intervene to assist pregnant girls dealing with life-threatening problems below the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. The Supreme Court has agreed to think about a challenge to that interpretation from the state of Idaho.

Farah Diaz-Tello, senior counsel with the reproductive rights authorized group If/When/How, which has endorsed the letter, stated a groundswell of public assist for Watts was essential in prompting the grand jury to not transfer ahead with that case.

“Placing external pressure on those systems and calling for investigations of these types of prosecutions actually can have a material impact in stopping them,” she stated. “These things are going to persist as long as people aren’t paying attention. So having the administration’s attention on that, I think, can really make a difference.”