Abuse of corpse charge dropped against Ohio woman who miscarried at 22 weeks pregnant

WARREN, Ohio (WCMH) -- An Ohio woman who miscarried at 22 weeks pregnant will not be charged with a felony, a grand jury decided Thursday.

A Trumbull County grand jury declined to indict 34-year-old Brittany Watts on a charge of abuse of a corpse after she miscarried into a toilet in September. Watts, whose miscarriage and subsequent charge garnered national attention and criticism from reproductive health advocates, faced a fifth-degree felony charge after she managed her stillbirth at home.

Watts had been hospitalized days before her miscarriage with severe cramping and bleeding and was told by medical professionals that the fetus was not viable. On Sept. 22, she was hospitalized again after miscarrying the fetus into her toilet.

The hospital called police after Watts told them of the at-home miscarriage and said she had disposed of the fetal remains outside, according to the coroner's report. Police later found the fetus in the toilet.

The forensic investigator determined the fetus died in utero, likely caused by the premature rupture of membranes in the placenta, leading the placenta to hemorrhage. But Warren Assistant City Prosecutor Lewis Guarnieri argued during a November hearing that it didn't matter whether the fetus died before Watts miscarried, it mattered that she left the fetus in the toilet.

Watts' attorney, Traci Timko, told NBC4's sister station FOX8 that she was "relieved" to hear the grand jury's decision and is grateful that Watts can begin to heal from the toll it's taken on her.

Reproductive rights organizations and activists had publicly called for the charge against Watts to be dismissed, calling it the criminalization of pregnancy. Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, a coalition of doctors who rallied behind Ohio's abortion rights amendment that passed in November, issued a letter to the Trumbull County prosecutor arguing Watts' prosecution violated the "spirit and letter" of the abortion rights amendment.

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins previously defended his decision to present the felony abuse of a corpse charge to a grand jury for review, saying in a press release that he was "duty bound" by the law. If charged, Watts could have faced up to a year in prison and $2,500 fine.

Dr. Marcela Azevedo, president of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement that the grand jury's decision was a "firm step against the dangerous trend of criminalizing reproductive outcomes."

"This practice must be unequivocally halted," Azevedo said. "It not only undermines women's rights but also threatens public health by instilling fear and hesitation in women seeking necessary medical care during their most vulnerable moments."