A Black Ohio woman who miscarried in her bathroom has been charged with abuse of a corpse. Thirty-three-year-old Brittany Watts, of Warren, awaits grand jury action.

The 33-year-old Watts, who had not shared the news of her pregnancy even with her family, made her first prenatal visit to a doctor’s office behind Mercy Health-St. Joseph’s Hospital in Warren, a working-class city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Cleveland.

The doctor said that, while a fetal heartbeat was still present, Watts’ water had broken prematurely and the fetus she was carrying would not survive. He advised heading to the hospital to have her labor induced, so she could have what amounted to an abortion to deliver the nonviable fetus. Otherwise, she would face “significant risk” of death, according to records of her case.

That was a Tuesday in September. What followed was a harrowing three days entailing: multiple trips to the hospital; Watts miscarrying into, and then flushing and plunging, a toilet at her home; a police investigation of those actions; and Watts, who is Black, being charged with abuse of a corpse. That’s a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

  • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
    22·
    11 months ago

    The hospital would have provided that help if they didn’t fear potential legal action. She wouldn’t have flushed the fetus if she didn’t fear legal action.

    The problem here is the laws.

    Also, it’s a non viable fetus. It was never alive. It was never given a birth certificate nor a death certificate. Do you believe she should go to prison for a year after all the trauma she’s been through because she flushed it in a state where the law is against her in every way if they find out this even happened?

    • Rivalarrival
      126·
      11 months ago

      I think a maximum of 1 year in prison and/or a $2500 fine is a reasonable punishment for deliberately attempting to flush non-flushable wipes into a sanitary sewer.

      Since Ohio has adopted its reproductive rights amendment, I would argue that the maximum punishment is rather lenient. If she flushed that fetus today, I’d support the maximum.

      Under the conditions she faced back in September, I’d expect a guilty verdict but a suspended sentence.