Miscarriage no crime, Ohio panel finds

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio woman facing a criminal charge for her handling of a home miscarriage will not be charged, a grand jury decided Thursday.

The Trumbull County prosecutor’s office said grand jurors declined to return an indictment for abuse of a corpse against Brittany Watts, 34, of Warren.

Watts’ lawyer said an outpouring of emails, letters, calls, donations and prayers from the public helped her client endure the ordeal of being charged with a felony punishable by up to a year in prison.

“No matter how shocking or disturbing it may sound when presented in a public forum, it is simply the devastating reality of miscarriage,” attorney Traci Timko said in a statement. “While the last three months have been agonizing, we are incredibly grateful and relieved that justice was handed down by the grand jury today.”

A municipal judge had found probable cause to bind over Watts’ case. That was after city prosecutors said she miscarried, flushed and scooped out the toilet, then left the house, leaving the 22-week-old fetus lodged in the pipes.

An autopsy determined the fetus died in utero and identified “no recent injuries.”

Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, a key backer of Ohio’s successful fall amendment protecting access to reproductive health care, commended the grand jury and called for the “dangerous trend” of criminalizing reproductive outcomes to be halted.

“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,” President Dr. Marcela Azevedo said in a statement.