Occupy Wall Street Protestor Says Pepper Spray Caused Her Miscarriage

It’s not just college kids that are getting attacked in these nonviolent Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, now it’s pregnant woman. A 19-year-old expectant mother named Jennifer Fox was three months pregnant when she attended an Occupy Wall Street protest in Seattle. She was pepper-sprayed by police and struck twice in the stomach. Five days later, she suffered a miscarriage.

Jennifer said that as police moved in on the crowd, she screamed that she was pregnant as she tried to get away. One officer kicked her in the stomach and another pushed his bicycle into the crowd which again impacted her stomach. Shortly after, the same two police officers pepper-sprayed her.

After the attack, Jennifer had an ultrasound at the Harborview medical center which revealed no problems with the baby. But just this past Sunday, the expectant mother started to experience cramps and faintness.  Jennifer told The Stranger:

“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.”

Jennifer had been homeless at the time of the protests and had been camping with Occupy Seattle. She told another blogger that her family was going to support both she and the baby that she had planned to name Miracle.

The Stranger is currently requesting a copy of Jennifer’s medical records from Harborview to confirm her allegations.

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As more and more students, expectant mothers, and even 84-year-old women continue to get attacked in these nonviolent protests, debates about the alleged safety of these protestors gets called into question. Again, these are nonviolent, peaceful demonstrations that are protected under the people’s right to assemble — and under those laws, these demonstrations should be safe enough for even a pregnant woman in her first trimester to attend. And yet, consistent police brutality against nonviolent protestors proves otherwise.

As if seated, unarmed college kids getting doused with pepper spray wasn’t a strong enough Litmus test for this complete abuse and misuse of power, we now know that even pregnant women are not safe in exercising their rights as citizens.

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(photo: seattlepi.com)