Ohio grand jury declines to charge woman with abuse of corpse after at-home miscarriage – JURIST

A grand jury declined to return an indictment Thursday against Brittany Watts, an Ohio woman facing an abuse of corpse charge after suffering a miscarriage in her home. The Trumbull County prosecutor’s office stated that, after evaluating the case, they believed Watts did not violate the Ohio Criminal Statute of Abuse of a Corpse. The grand jury responded by returning a no bill—effectively dismissing the case.

Watts had initially been charged with felony abuse of a corpse in October after Warren County police found the remains of her pregnancy in her toilet and trash. The case had been turned over to the Trumbull County Grand Jury in November to determine if Watts should be indicted to stand trial after the municipal court found probable cause to believe Watts guilty.

Watts miscarried in her toilet in September, leaving the 22-week-old fetus in the toilet and removing some of the contents to the trash. Her doctor had previously told her she was carrying a non-viable fetus and that she should have her labor induced or risk “significant risk” of death. Traci Timko, Watts’ attorney, said Watts waited at the hospital for eight hours to receive treatment while the hospital tried to decide how to act under Ohio’s abortion laws. Watts never received the treatment, and an autopsy revealed the fetus died in utero with no identifiable recent injuries.

A 2021 study found that Black women had a 43 percent increased risk of miscarriage compared to white women. In Our Own Voice, an organization that promotes Black women and their right to reproductive justice, released a statement on the case after the decision had been announced. President and CEO Dr. Regina Davis Moss stated:

[Watts’ experience] is a grave example of how Black women and their bodies face legal threats simply for existing. Her story is one that is becoming alarmingly common: in states with abortion restrictions, Black women, girls, and gender-expansive people are being surveilled, arrested, prosecuted, and punished for pregnancy loss.

The grand jury’s decision comes two months after Ohio voters passed a constitutional amendment to protect reproductive rights. After the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling in 2021 overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that recognized an individual’s right to an abortion, states across the country have been initiating new laws to regulate access to reproductive health care. In December, the Texas Supreme Court denied Kate Cox access to an abortion, despite her pregnancy compilations. In October, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the state’s six-week abortion ban. A 2023 report by Care Post-Roe revealed that healthcare providers in states with abortion bans are unable to meet medical standards, putting their patients at risk.

More decisions on access to reproductive care are to come in 2024. In Florida, an amendment to enshrine abortion protections in the state’s constitution will appear on the state’s 2024 ballot. The US Supreme Court also agreed in December to hear two cases on mifepristone, a drug that is widely prescribed for abortions and miscarriages.