Ohio Woman Miscarried In Her Bathroom, Now Faces ‘Abuse Of Corpse’ Charge

An Ohio grand jury will decide if an Ohio woman who miscarried a nonviable fetus at home charged with a fifth-degree felony charge. In September, Brittany Watts showed up at an Ohio hospital with signs that her water had broken prematurely. That condition can make it impossible for a pregnancy to continue, and if left untreated, pregnant people in that condition can slip into deadly sepsis. https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1735657409786343635 From the Washington Post:

By the time she first visited the hospital on Sept. 19, Watts already suspected she was miscarrying. She was passing large clots of blood and describing her pain as intense, according to her medical records.

Doctors confirmed her suspicions, telling her that although there was fetal cardiac activity, the pregnancy was not viable. Watts left the hospital that day against medical advice, telling the doctor she could “better process what was happening to her at home.”

The next morning, Watts returned, expecting to be induced to deliver her preterm pregnancy. Abortion is currently legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy in Ohio.

For the next eight hours, doctors and officials determined the ethics of inducing labor for a woman who had been diagnosed with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), had no detectable amniotic fluid, was bleeding vaginally and had advanced cervical dilation.

https://youtu.be/g8S-WsaNCXc?si=0J4380akLIy2n5u8 On September 22, Watts miscarried at home into a toilet. She was eventually charged with “abuse of a corpse.”  According to reports, the nurse who rubbed Watts’ shoulders that day and told her she’d be ok is the individual who reported her to the authorities. Watts’s attorney, Traci Timko, told CNN that Ohio law does not require miscarrying women to bury or cremate fetal remains. “Women miscarry into toilets every day,” she added. At a hearing, a forensic pathologist testified that an autopsy found no injury to the fetus and that the fetus had died before passing through the birth canal: “This fetus was going to be nonviable … and the fetus was too young to be delivered.” https://twitter.com/sadgirlcassi/status/1739679531273687415 Prosecutors say the issue isn’t that the fetus died, but that some of the remains were found in Watts’s toilet. But Watts’ attorney told the Washington Post, “There is no law in Ohio that requires a mother suffering a miscarriage to bury or cremate those remains.” Other experts have stated “abuse of a corpse” charges usually come into play when a miscarriage occurs at a medical facility and how the fetus is disposed of thereafter. Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said in a statement that he is obligated to present the felony abuse-of-corpse charge against Watts to a grand jury. Watts could face up to a year behind bars if convicted. https://twitter.com/Slate/status/1738072468399489504