Comments

1
Why would a pregnant women take part in a protest that she knew could risk the health of the child? Sounds like a lawsuit the city will have to deal with, assuming the autopsy proves she lost it due to the pepper spray.

2
Condolences to Ms. Fox on the loss of her child.
3
It was totally irresposible of this woman to put her unborn baby at risk in this way.
4
@1 Why would anybody name their child Miracle? That's like a saccharine overstep that turned this whole this sour. Kind of like Kool-aid with 2 cups of sugar too many.
5
You know, I was gonna try to get in here before some concern troll showed up wondering why a pregnant woman would be protesting - it's risky, after all - but I see I lost.

Here's what matters: Jeniffer has suffered a deep and unimaginable loss. My heart breaks for her.

Also, I got an "information sheet" from the state telling me I shouldn't ride my bicycle when I was pregnant, because I might fall and hurt the baby. I rode until I was put on bed rest. Everyone thinks they know what pregnant women should be doing.

And if I were pregnant now, you can bet I'd be out there protesting for a better future for my kid. Just like Jeniffer.
6
Um...waaaaait a second, before the angry mobs start wielding pitchforks: In the reports I've seen, the woman was said to be either two or three months pregnant. She couldn't know the sex of the baby that early. This smacks of sensationalism.

In addition: Having a miscarriage at that stage of pregnancy is rarely due to outside influences and is usually due to a problem with the pregnancy or fetus itself. Bottom line: if you're going to miscarry, there's very little medical science can do to save the pregnancy, and if the pregnancy is healthy, there's very little a person can do to CAUSE a miscarriage. Why do you think so many women died in the past in botched abortions? If it was that easy to cause a miscarriage, women would be losing babies left and right.

I'm not saying the pepper spray wasn't the culprit, I don't know enough about how it affects the body to know that. I'm just stating that the facts as I know them make me VERY skeptical about this.

That being said, I've suffered miscarriages myself, and my heart goes out to her. It's not an easy loss to deal with. I'd just say slow down on the rush to find someone to blame. It is most likely not anyone's fault other than nature.
7
Next Republican debate, someone will propose making it illegal for pregnant women to protest.
8
The police made it dangerous, not the protestors. It is ridiculous to assume that exercising your first amendment rights would put you in danger. That is the problem right there. When did it become acceptable for police to make peaceful protests dangerous?

The 1% is trying to keep us focused on the police when the real problem is income inequality. Anyone who doesn't come out to fight for a more fair economy has their head in the sand.
9
I'm sorry for Ms. Fox's loss and I hope that she is getting any medical care she needs.

@1 - If you had read the links you would have seen that she was homeless and was participating in the protests at least in part to have a safe(r) place to sleep.
10
Hey, but no worries. Pepper spray is harmless, right? Right?
11
Oh. Shit.

Awful.

And no, it's not her fault for being there. The right to peaceably assemble is at least nominally supposed to be guaranteed in this country. Police use of chemical weapons against nonviolent protesters is not something anyone should have to plan for.

@7, with a precedent like this, various states either already do or are already trying to. Various anti-abortion laws have threatened to make miscarriage tantamount to murder for years. The recent narrowly-averted personhood amendment in Mississippi probably would have, for one.
12
Yeah, if @6 is right and she was still in her 1st trimester, there's not going to be any way to say the pepper spray caused the miscarriage. It's incredibly common. And if she was homeless there had to be any number of risk factors going on.

I'm very sorry she lost a child she wanted, no matter the circumstances. It just doesn't sound much to me like there's any way to say what the cause was.
13
..add Seattle to the list of cities defending police brutality lawsuits.

Great decisions by city government in times of fiscal hardship.
14
Why would a pregnant woman think she has rights in America?

I mean, like stuff listed in the Bill of Rights?

It's unthinkable!

If you believe the versions of the Bible in the South, women who are pregnant are chattel, right?

(oops left the Irony key on)
15
@14 Is that anything like the sarcasm key? Mine's borked, and is permanently on. Makes for some interesting work emails.
16
@14 -- Pregnant women have the right to drink and smoke cigarettes. Doesn't mean those are smart choices.
17
a pregnant homeless unmarried teenager?
some kid lucked out.....
18
I am sorry for her loss; miscarriage is uncomfortable and some people mourn their dreams. BUT, to say that an "unborn baby" is "irreplaceable" is disingenuous: there’s no way to know that this pregnancy will be her only pregnancy.

That sort of hyperbole and sensationalism will turn people (me) against this lawsuit. And, as people have mentioned here already: pregnancy is risky and until that baby is born and breathing, you don’t know if the pregnancy is viable anyway.
19
Oh brother. Miracle? Really?
Is John Edwards still practicing law? This case is made for him and his 30% ambulance chasing cut will be huge. Why don't we charge her instead for putting her baby in danger. Dumb bitch.
20
Thank you for the re-post Dominic and Thank you Ian Awesome.

Stay sane and send good will towards this young woman.
21
You know, there's no way for a woman to respond to the insult, "Dumb bitch." Because men dominate the dialog and set the tone of our public narrative, there's just no equivalent response to that.
22
@9 " was homeless and participating in the protests at least in part to have a safe(r) place to sleep."

Nickelsvilles or YWCA is a far safer place than SCCC, unless she was kicked out for smoking, drinking, stealing, fighting, etc. No pregnant woman, in their right mind, would ever put their child at risk like that.
23
If a pregnant woman shouldn't go to a protest, she also should ride in a car, cross a street, walk down a flight of stairs or do any number of "risky" things everyone does every damn day.
24
So sad.

(@16, en route to the delivery room my mother stopped at the Sorrento Hotel lobby bar for a last cocktail and cigarette before what she feared would be a lengthy labor. And look at me, I'm fine, right?)
25
*shouldn't
26
Yeah, this story seems a little suspect for a whole bunch of reasons, not the least of which is, miscarriages happen in about 1 out of every 4 pregnancies. It is pretty ludicrous to think she could say with legal certainty what caused her pregnancy to terminate, let alone with any kind of medical certainty.

But I am curious to see if the right to lifers come out for her in force, asserting that her unborn fetus had the same rights she did.
27
Government forced abortion.

Where are the social conservatives now?
28
#21

a girl dumps a guy, and she out the door he say "you bitch", has ever once the girl come back begging to be forgive?
29
@23 Yes, crossing the street or walking down the stairs is just the same as goading the police into a fight.
30
@28: Do you speak English?
31
@1: She was taking part in a peaceful protest. Why would a cop fire pepper spray into a crowd that might have a pregnant woman in it?
32
@29, Going up stairs is goading gravity into a fight.
33
Yes, you're all doctors now -- congrats!

Face facts: pepper spray is an extremely caustic substance and causes pain and discomfort for days after exposure. There's internal swelling of all sorts and it's nothing short of completely intolerable.

However, to say that she shouldn't have gone assumes that pepper spray and other stress-inducing factors are a given. They're not. They're extraordinary measures and require huge oversteps by the police or protesters. She wasn't charging the cops and she wasn't beating the crap out of them. If she had gone far beyond rational limits then KOMO and KING and Q13 and all the other news outlets would be shrieking and showing ample footage of the offense. They didn't. They couldn't even snag footage of the reported bottles so apparently the SPD's tolerance is far too low.

Now with regards to sex: she was pregnant and really excited. If she's wanted a girl all this time then her baby will be a girl until proven otherwise. Yes, too soon to tell the sex in most cases (but she was probably told) but not too soon for an expectant mother to hang her hopes on having the daughter she's probably stayed up late nights waiting for.

And showing this mock concern for her well-being is really shitty. You didn't care about her before this and chances are you won't care about her or other homeless mothers (and non-mothers) after this. This is yet another reason why Occupy protests. For some it raises awareness and for others -- the real scumbags -- it makes things reeeeeeeeally uncomfortable.

Glad to see that in your discomfort you've dug deep into the shittiest mental cesspool you could find, trolls.
34
@17

No, society lucked out.
35
Are our rights to freedom of expression conditioned upon our health status?

Her pregnancy has absolutely no relevance to her right to peaceful protest. It is an absolutely outrageous premise to suggest that pregnant women must muzzle themselves, you know, just in case some asshole cop decides to go off. Fuck that.
36
on a side note, didn't this happen to charlize theron's character in "battle in seattle"?
37
ok well just to play doctor like the rest of you and just because i like facts, since someone said she was "two to three months pregnant", i'd like to point out that her fetus may really be old enough to know the sex. CVS is done at 10-12 weeks. but i see that she is described as "homeless" so maybe she doesn't have access to that test...anyways. it's only too early if the only sexing method is ultrasound.
38
@24 how is that not just completely stylish, for it's time! :)
39
Interesting facts about pepper spray. And about how chemical grade pepper spray is nearly 6 times stronger than a habanero pepper. It's pure chemical capsaicin. None of you know what kind of effect that might have on a fetus, because there just aren't that many studies into the long-term effects of being doused in weapons-grade pepper spray.
40
Dom, check the last link — that's Dorli Rainey being carried out of the protest, not Jeniffer Fox.

That said, I won't comment on the possible causes of Fox's miscarriage, but my heart goes out to her for the loss of her baby.
41
Lot of "hur hur" idiots on here. WHY THE FUCK SHE EXERCISE HER 1ST AMENDMENT RIGHTS WHILE PREGNANT!? SHE WAS ASKING FOR A FIGHT! FUCKING DUMB BITCH HAHAH" No matter how you dress it up, that's how dumb you sound.
42
They said the damage was from the kick and that the pepper spray got to it, too.


Say what?
43
** They said the damage was from the kick and that the pepper spray got to it, too."**

There were at least 5 cameras recording all this and theres no footage of the cop kicking her in the stomach? I dont remember a kick to the abdomen being part of the original story. A kick (blunt force trama) is going to show up when the fetus is expunged, which should be any day now, yes/no?
44
My deepest heartfelt condolences go to Miss Fox. I know the pain of miscarriage, it is heartbreaking. There are several facts that may never be proven as to why/how this happened, but the bottom line is that a woman has lost her precious baby.
45
@40) Click to the second photo in the series.

@42) By "it" she means her fetus. I'll clarify in brackets.
46
first allow me to say that this is a personal tragedy for this young woman of a tremendous magnitude that i can't even imagine (as a childless man). now, allow me to get ridiculously cynical .... one of the thing that progressives need to learn, is that the truth doesn't matter when you are trying to convince the populace to support you. yes, you should DECIDE on your positions based upon facts & evidence, but using those things to convince other people is a guaranteed loser. individuals may (or may not) respond to evidence & thoughtful inquiry, but groups of people do not. groups of people respond to narratives (that play to their fears & biases). do you see conservatives worrying about the truthfulness of their narratives? answer=no. hell, they embrace lies more or less openly & they STILL get people to embrace their narratives. this miscarriage is a narrative opportunity. something that everyone will respond to, just like the '84-year old pepper sprayed' meme took off, so will this. embrace that & use this for what it is useful for. don't sit around & debate whether it actually was the cause. that's doing the right wing's work for them. truth doesn't matter. narratives matter. this is a winning narrative.
47
@45,

I know she means the fetus. What I don't buy is that a doctor would flat-out tell her that the pepper spray got to "it" without irrefutable medical evidence, which obviously no one has at this point. She's either exaggerating or someone at Harborview needs his/her license suspended.
48
Why would any woman risk an unborn baby in a warzone like that?
49
A kick to the fetus would have created trama that could have been seen on the ultra-sound, doctors would have advised her that the baby was not fine. However the pepper spray could have had something to do with it, but not this alleged mystery kick. Something as offensive as a cop kicking a pregnant women in the womb would have been posted to youtube by now.

Oh and most people who get the shit kicked out of them by the cops, document it. A kick that hard, to harm the fetus, would have left welt marks. Not sure if we'll ever be able to verify this as the moment she lawyers up, McGinn will be falling over himself to settle out of court.
50
All of you folks who are focusing on blaming the victim, are sick.
51
It's a good thing. Nobody needs to have a kid at 19.
52
People, I know we use news as entertainment and a ammunition for our gossip filled, spiritually void existence. By for the love of God and dignity, just stop. Stop judging, stop supporting pre-esisting arguments. Instead, be saddened. Be silent. All death is tragedy. I don't care if you are Newt Gingrich (OWS hater) or fucking Kalle Lasn (OWS brainchild), a cop or a protestor who was there (like myself): A mother lost a child. If that actually divides us we are a disgusting culture. Nobody will ever know for sure who's fault it is, and guess what: Nobody wanted it to happen. Not the cops, not the protesters, not the apathetic people watching from Starbucks drinking pumpkin spice lattes. So just take a moment of silence, call your mom or kid and say "I love you", and learn to have compassion for human beings. If you want to debate, find another subject. Like how to promote justice and sustainability. Thank you my Seattle neighbors, much love.
53
@49- You're a doctor specializing in fetal medicine? No? Then STFU.
54
oh god i hope this is true

SPD is 100% fucked if so

you can shoot homeless brown people, you punch teenage girls in the face, you can mace grandmas who are friends of the mayor, but don't fuck with white babies.
55
I'm not really very upset by a woman having a miscarriage early in her pregnancy. I can't get worked up about it, it happens all the time.

The police use of violence is wrong, pervasive, and upsetting.
56
If true, it's very sad for her. So far there doesn't seem to be any documentation to show that she had a miscarriage, let alone what may have caused it. Nor has it been established that she was ever really pregnant. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but it shouldn't be taken as fact at this time. A 19 year old homeless girl may not be the most stable person.
57
Horseshit and lies from a credulous hack.
58
"BUT, to say that an "unborn baby" is "irreplaceable" is disingenuous: there’s no way to know that this pregnancy will be her only pregnancy. "

So if parents have more than one kid, one of them is replaceable? Yes, this baby IS irreplaceable. Sorry.
59
Wow. Just. Wow. Some of you people are real works of art. You should be hanging on the walls of the 1%.
60
It's all about officer safety, those officers felt the fetus was threatening them.
61
Thanks SPD, we Seattle tax payers can surely afford your continuing misconduct from a minority of officers.
62
...damage to the uterine lining, the placenta, or the cervix could easily be missed by an ultra sound. (I had a tumor the size of a grapefruit that three ultrasounds missed on my ovaries. A cat scan with contrast finally identified it) Damage does not have to occur directly to the fetus in order to cause miscarriage, the uterine environment simply needs to be disturbed to the point of not being a viable for sustaining life. In addition, a crowd that large it would be impossible to see if she was kicked or not... as anyone close enough was pepper sprayed thus rendering them sightless and unable to document anything. Its a shame we are not taxing the one percent more. So that programs for homeless mothers were able to accept more individuals into them and forcing pregnant a19 year old into the streets. YWCA was mentioned earlier...they are only able to help if you are 18 and under and pregnant. My heart goes out to you Ms. Fox and I hope you continue to strive for a better world while the rest of us sit and comment from our warm comfy homes and many or your fellow homeless die across the country from freezing. Thank you for having so much less than the rest of us while fighting so hard for us.
63
@53 "You're a doctor specializing in fetal medicine? No? Then STFU."

No, but my wife has had 4 miscarriages in the past 2 years.
64
"Police use of chemical weapons against nonviolent protesters is not something anyone should have to plan for."

Great point. I shouldn't have to plan for car theft either. Time to deliberately drive my car to a bad neighborhood and leave the doors unlocked because I shouldn't have to plan for bad things possibly happening, right? Then I'll get Real Mad when something bad happens
65
Oh no, lets not consider blame on the people who hit her stomach or sprayed her with chemical agents while she was screaming "I'm pregnant"...lets instead blame her.

Oh lets move past blaming her and attack the name choice, her situation or the fact that she knew the sex of her baby and had picked out a name....Which anyone who has been pregnant knows women do all the time before officially finding out.

No lets quote statistics and say that it couldnt be the violent cops fault, just fate...after all miscarriages are common......Where is the outrage that a pregnant woman was hit and dosed with pepper spray at a PEACEFUL PROTEST?

Who cares how far along she was, what her financial status is, the name she picked , or why she was there. This never should have happened. PERIOD. STOP JUSTIFYING THE HORROR. This is not ok. Regardless of whether or not its common for an early trimester pregnancy to miscarry. Regardless of whether or not she is poor, homeless, un-married, WHATEVER it doesnt matter. It doesnt matter if you would have made the same decisions if you were her.
What matters is that she was pepper sprayed in the face and physically hit.
66
I love you, philosophy school dropout. I have been arguing "truth doesn't matter" for years. RIGHT ON.
67
@ 63 (Kinison),

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. A miscarriage is a lot to grieve, four is overwhelmingly sad. My condolences to both you and your wife. Take care.

Kind regards,
k
68
So who is allowed to peacefully protest? No priests trying to protect people, no disableds who are desperate because their services are being cut, no fathers with dependent children, no male BLACKS who will be the first to be picked-off, beated, jailed (says friend well-employed by The County), no women who are 6 weeks pregnant but don't know it, no women who are homeless and desperate and pregnant...THINK ABOUT YOUR ARGUMENT FOR WHO IS ALLOWED TO PEACEFULLY PROTEST. I bet *you* are afraid to protest because you might lose something. Now that is fucked.
69
Well the be fair, according to the police, the fetal position is "active resistance" so it had it coming.
70
My condolences to Ms. Fox on the loss of her child.
71
Every single hypocrite bemoaning the tragedy of this has walked past a pregnant homeless woman and been struck by how tragic it is that so many people who can't take care of babies choose to have them anyway.

72
@Kinison:

To all the people who are blaming Ms. Fox for this tragedy, I would like to point out that Ms. Fox was presumably working off of the traditional American precedent that peaceful protesters do not get attacked by the police. Let me remind you that Ms. Fox was punched in the stomach by a police officer—if you think she should have expected this in America, you're nuts.
73
If this is true, then that means the police committed cold-blooded murder, according to the neo-cons. "Right to life", "sanctity of the unborn", that sort of thing.
74
19 year old homeless girl? Yeah, I'll take my grain of salt now thank you very much.
75
She was kicked in the stomach at a non-violent protest. Why would anyone expect violence at a NON-VIOLENT-PROTEST? Had anyone assumed they would be pepper sprayed and kicked in the face, chances are it would have been a violent protest very quickly.

Also, I'm not sure where you expect a homeless person to go in order to be safe, but a non-violent protest surrounded by caring people seems like a pretty damn good decision.
76
If it turns out she's not been truthful about being pregnant, and subsequently having a miscarriage, this will be just another thing that alienates the vast majority of the 99% from the protesters.
77
How about everybody chill out until some actual journalism gets done? All of this needs to be confirmed or debunked through investigation and documentation. You know? Fact-checking?
78
@77 How dare we comment in the comments section.
79
I am very sorry for her loss. You should all be ashamed of yourselves for assuming things about this woman, and pointing fingers. Nobody but the mother has the right to say what is good or not good for their child. I would assume that participating in a peaceful protest would not end up injuring a baby. If I were pregnant, I would still want to go and practice my 1st amendment right with the rest of the 99%. If I were a mother, I would want rights for my child...so they could have a better future. And YES, there ARE 19 year old homeless girls...and they have rights too! I'm 17 and was kicked out of my house. I understand where this girl is coming from. It doesn't matter how many months she was pregnant or even if there are holes in this story... What matters is that a woman lost her baby, possibly because of the police brutality surrounding the Occupy protests. Don't any of you care? Or do you just want to sit there, behind your computers, poking fun at a woman who miscarried a baby and pointing fingers at a movement you probably know close to nothing about?
80
@72 "Let me remind you that Ms. Fox was punched in the stomach by a police officer"

First this was reported last week, there was no mention of being kicked in the stomach by a cop, or the cops bike tire. Now you say she was punched? While I clearly agree that its bullshit for a police officer to do this, I would very much like to see the medical records she says proves the cops killed her baby.

So far, it kinda reminds me of the movie Citizen Ruth.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115906/
81
Whatever happened to her, she certainly looked like she was in a lot of pain as she was being carried away from the protest. My heart goes out to her for losing her baby.
82
Rotten:

At 19 years old, after my dad lost his job, I went from working part-time and going to college to dropping out so I could work full time--and I wound up homeless anyway.

Have you ever been homeless? Do you even know any homeless people? Do you have any understanding at all of the variety of circumstances by which people find themselves homeless? Do you have the slightest idea what it takes to get out of that situation once you're in it?

Take your grain of salt and choke on it.
83
I can't believe any people here are trying to say there's only small chance that it was due to the pepper spray when it SPECIFICALLY states she was hit twice IN the stomach. A blow to the stomach, (such as the kick mentioned) is enough to cause miscarriage at ANY stage of the pregnancy.
the law enforcement is getting out of hand, and for what? How many PEACEFUL protesters are being arrested for executing their right. When this woman stated "I am pregnant" and "I'm trying to get out", there is no excuse for why as an officer you should be raising your fist (or leg, in this case) at her. I don't care if you agree or disagree with the protesting itself, but a retired officer was arrested for peaceful protest that was directed at the law enforcement, a pregnant woman was kicked in the stomach, someone's dog was killed (which posed no threat, and if it were me, anyone harming my pets or loved ones would not go unpunished), people are being sat down and pepper sprayed as punishment when it should only be used in defense. A woman of 100lbs and about five feet tall was sprayed, point blank while her mouth and eyes were open.

I understand crowds are difficult to control. I understand someone running at an officer is a threat, I understand armed civilians are a threat, I understand all of these things.

But I refuse to blame this girl because she protested, because peaceful protests should be PEACEFUL. And she was not being violent, threatening or non compliant. She was trying to leave to avoid physical altercations, which sadly enough resulted in a police officer assaulting her.

I'm disgusted with those who are trying to defend situations like these and blame the victim.

If it was your sister, wife, daughter, friend who was pregnant and kicked in the stomach by ANYONE, police or not, you would be enraged. Where is this same reaction for someone who is taking part in trying to better the country?
84
Rotten:

At 19 years old, after my dad lost his job, I went from working part-time and going to college to dropping out so I could work full time--and I wound up homeless anyway.

Have you ever been homeless? Do you even know any homeless people? Do you have any understanding at all of the variety of circumstances by which people find themselves homeless? Do you have the slightest idea what it takes to get out of that situation once you're in it?

Take your grain of salt and choke on it.
85
Twice.
86
I can't believe any people here are trying to say there's only small chance that it was due to the pepper spray when it SPECIFICALLY states she was hit twice IN the stomach. A blow to the stomach, (such as the kick mentioned) is enough to cause miscarriage at ANY stage of the pregnancy.
the law enforcement is getting out of hand, and for what? How many PEACEFUL protesters are being arrested for executing their right. When this woman stated "I am pregnant" and "I'm trying to get out", there is no excuse for why as an officer you should be raising your fist (or leg, in this case) at her. I don't care if you agree or disagree with the protesting itself, but a retired officer was arrested for peaceful protest that was directed at the law enforcement, a pregnant woman was kicked in the stomach, someone's dog was killed (which posed no threat, and if it were me, anyone harming my pets or loved ones would not go unpunished), people are being sat down and pepper sprayed as punishment when it should only be used in defense. A woman of 100lbs and about five feet tall was sprayed, point blank while her mouth and eyes were open.

I understand crowds are difficult to control. I understand someone running at an officer is a threat, I understand armed civilians are a threat, I understand all of these things.

But I refuse to blame this girl because she protested, because peaceful protests should be PEACEFUL. And she was not being violent, threatening or non compliant. She was trying to leave to avoid physical altercations, which sadly enough resulted in a police officer assaulting her.

I'm disgusted with those who are trying to defend situations like these and blame the victim.

If it was your sister, wife, daughter, friend who was pregnant and kicked in the stomach by ANYONE, police or not, you would be enraged. Where is this same reaction for someone who is taking part in trying to better the country?
88
@84: +1
89
A pregnant woman would want to take part in the protests because she would want a better world for her child to be born into...
90
this is murder!!! let's hold the officers accountable for their criminal behavior.
91
WOW SHE SHOWED UP TO A PEACEFUL PROTEST AND DIDN'T EXPECT SOMEONE TO KILL HER UNBORN CHILD HOW NAIVE WHAT A HORRIBLE MOTHER
92
Let's not blame the victim and say it's the woman's fault for choosing to endanger her baby by PEACEFULLY PROTESTING. Peacefully protesting should not be dangerous or put one at risk for violence. I am skeptical that the pepper spray actually caused the miscarriage, but see this as beside the point - our policemen should not be attacking pregnant women. Or anyone, actually, who doesn't pose a legitimate threat.
93
She's a law breaker for participating in a peaceful march? Have you even *seen* the videos of the police actions against the Occupiers on that night in question? A priest was peppersprayed (in full robe, cross, etc.....the clothing of his official duties!), an 84 year old woman, a 2 year old child (whose parents expected to *peacefully* use their Constitutional rights to freedom of speech and assembly.

You're equating standing in a street with being a "law breaker"? That's so ridiculous I don't even know how to respond.

So the fact that her baby is dead because she broke a law by standing in a street.....that's not a tragedy? I weep for the obvious large chunk of empty flesh where your human heart used to be. It's not like she was robbing a bank or pushing drugs on people. The woman was just standing there.

So let's look at the facts of the case before us.

Ms. Fox (the mother) is homeless. Occupy offered her a safe place to sleep and improve herself. She was marching in the protest because there was no expectation of violence (Occupiers have repeatedly, in print and action avowed themselves a non-violent movement) and were engaged in a federally sanctioned (i.e., it's Constitutional) act of civil disobedience. At worst, the protesters should have been arrested one by one. The pepper spray response, kick to her stomach while she's screaming "I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant, let me out!" was unwarranted and a brutally excessive use of force for what legally amounted only to a traffic violation (jaywalking).

The Seattle police is already under investigation for brutality to the poor and minoity communities) by the Federal Department of Justice. They're note exactly known for holding back. Many of them were reported to have made jokes and laughed as they pepper-sprayed Occupiers.

From the article: "A friend called for an ambulance near the community college campus. (Fox says she has been camping with Occupy Seattle since it first began in Westlake Park. She is homeless and says, "I don't have a place. This is the place I call home.") When she arrived at Harborview at 11:00 a.m., she says, a doctor told her that "there was no heartbeat" from the baby. "They diagnosed that I was having a miscarriage. They said the damage was from the kick and that the pepper spray got to it [the fetus], too.""

It's not "looking for trouble" to engage in peaceful, Constitutionally protected rights. It's unthinking and ridiculous in the extreme to focus merely on the fact that a pregnant woman was at the protest---I urge you to look at he reverse: it's not the fact that she was there that's important: it's the fact that a child is dead due to police action and excessive brutality. Placing blame on the mother's shoulder removes the culpability from the police for their actions and I'm appalled that ordinary, normal people would openly be advocating for essentially execution street-justice style at the hands of the local constabulary. .
94
Sorry, but she did not allege she was kicked until now. No mention of it in the days since the incident. And, no doctor on earth would say " the damage was from the kick and that the pepper spray got to it [the fetus], too." That's ridiculous. Damage? What damage? Did the doctor say there was damage to her uterus? Hemorraging? Um, no. And "the pepper spray got to it"? Come on. Without an examination of the fetus out of the uterus, and the amniotic sac, there is no way they could have said this and HMC docs wouldnt say such hogwash. Did she have a D and C? (Very unlikely.) If not, there was no fetus or amniotic sac to examine. She is making it up for attention. My condolences for her loss, if it exists, but her account of what the docs said is just baloney. She's very young.
95
Stupid lack of spelling words. "Note", should be "not exactly known", not just "note exactly known". Typos drive me crazy, personally.
96
@63: "No, but my wife has had 4 miscarriages in the past 2 years."

And how many of those miscarriages were days after she was sprayed in the face with OC and kicked in the stomach?
98
Blocking traffic and the free movement of other citizens is not "peaceful protest". Make your dumb sign and chant your stupid slogans but don't block traffic. I dont give a shit if you are some fucking Jeebus priest faggot or an 80-yr old commie bitch or a pregnant homeless crackhead. Blocking traffic is not "peaceful protest" so fuck you too.
99
@19 - How dare you decide that no one needs to have a baby at 19? Who are you to decide that? I did, and guess what? I now have a Ph.D., and my daughter is completing her senior year of college and applying to graduate school. Her professors anticipate she'll be accepted to Duke University. Someone (I'm a little too peeved at you to go back and look for which # now) was talking about narratives. The dominate narrative about teen mothers is that they are welfare queens who want to have society support them while they have more and more children to get more and more money.

My dissertation deals with an alternative narrative. I interviewed former teen moms who went medical school, majored in chemical engineering, etc. One of them now runs a teen pregnancy prevention program that was recently featured in TIME. The dominant narrative is a lie for many teen moms, but just about everyone in society believes it, hammering down onto the shoulders of every teen mom like it's the gospel truth, like the moment she is pregnant she must fade into oblivion and become a statistic, a failure, a nothing... taking her child along with her. And her child? Well, those with small minds like you would rather see that child dead. Aren't you the humantiarian?

Dominate narratives of the poor are perpetuated by those in power to hold the poor down, and that is a truth that applies to more than teen moms. It's one of the reasons why OWS is now necessary. And if people don't wake up and realize that the corporations running this country would see any one of us dead as quickly as that little innocent fetus who died and not care one iota about it, this country is heading in the direction of the Roman Empire at the speed of sound.
100
Isn't it strange, a 40+ yr old woman gets pregnant with her TWENTIETH child, and the lifers think it's just so quaint and Godly, and TLC gives them a show...nevermind the obvious risks that almost cost baby 19 her life and the mother's as well. THAT'S responsible? How dare you judge this woman as being irresponsible for daring to peacefully protest a cause that could ultimately affect the life of her child while you martyr some woman who has babies for ratings.
101
I can't imagine that a homeless, pregnant woman has very good access to pre-natal health care, nutrition, makes very good lifestyle choices, etc. Good luck proving that lawsuit in court.
102
Most of those blaming the woman for going to the protest and losing her baby as a result are the same ones who would complain if she actually had the baby and needed assistance to raise it.

The first blow, by the account, seems to have been more of an accident. The second? Likely not. The pepper spraY? Really on purpose.

The two blows would not necessarily have left marks, but it doesn't take much at that stage of pregnancy to upset the balance. And, yes, pepper spray could well have caused an issue because it does absorb through membranes (including tear ducts and open sores) and gets in one's mouth and nose, so it could well enter the blood stream . It is designed to harm the person it is sprayed on, so why not the fetus that shares the mother's blood supply?

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