On Thursday, the Ohio grand jury declined to indict a woman charged with abuse of a corpse for miscarrying at home in September.
Mahoning Matters reported that Brittany Watts, 34, was hospitalized in Warren twice and left both times before giving birth at home. Though Trumbull County prosecutor Dennis Watkins said he was legally obligated to try the case, the Trumbull County grand jury issued a “no bill,” meaning Watts will not be criminally charged.
READ: Woman Who Miscarried at Home Faces Indictment for Abusing Corpse
Brittany Watts, 34, was reportedly 21 weeks and five days pregnant when she was admitted to the hospital — where doctors determined her water broke, her cervix was dilated, and she had an elevated white blood cell count. Doctors recommended she give birth to the nonviable fetus, which had a heartbeat, as she was at high risk of death, sepsis, or “complete placental abruption with catastrophic bleeding,” The New York Times reported.
Watts allegedly left the initial hospital visit after waiting for an ethics panel to decide whether she could be induced without legal consequences as a fetus is considered viable at 22 weeks under state law. The New York Times reported that Watts miscarried at home, but returned to the hospital to undergo a dilation and curettage and to remove the placenta.
However, hospital staff contacted Warren City police about Watts’ miscarriage and to find the fetus. The New York Times reported that Watts miscarried in her bathroom and tried to flush the fetus down the toilet. Police allegedly recovered the fetus from the pipes.
Watts reportedly suffered a spontaneous miscarriage a month before Ohio voted to enshrine abortion and other reproductive health protections — including miscarriage care — in its constitution. The measure went into effect in December, after Watts’ miscarriage, and Warren Municipal Court Judge Terry Ivanchak sent the case to a grand jury.
Watts’ lawyer, Traci Timko, told The New York Times on Thursday, “I’m happy Brittany is able to now begin to heal through all of this, and I hope and believe that her story is going to be an impetus for change.”
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