Ohio woman who miscarried won't be criminally charged, prosecutor says

An Ohio woman who miscarried won't be criminally charged for abuse of a corpse, the Trumbull County prosecutor's office said Thursday. 

A grand jury returned a "no bill" in the case against Brittany Watts, 33, of Warren, Ohio, the prosecutor said, meaning they decided there will be no indictment. In the court filing, the grand jury foreman said the jury met for two days and examined seven witnesses regarding Watts' miscarriage before issuing their decision.

Watts, at 21 weeks and 5 days pregnant, began passing thick blood clots and made her first prenatal visit to a doctor's office in September 2023. The doctor told her that her water had broken prematurely and the baby most likely wouldn't survive. Over the next three days, Watts made multiple trips to the hospital before miscarrying into her home toilet. Testimony and an autopsy later confirmed that the fetus had died in the womb.

She then flushed and plunged her toilet, leading to a police investigation, and police found the remains of the fetus wedged in the pipes. Watts was initially charged with abuse of a corpse on October 4, a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine. On Nov.2, 2023, the case was turned over to the Trumbull County prosecutor so criminal charges could be independently determined, the prosecutor's office said in a statement Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors investigated the case before presenting the findings before the grand jury.

The case against Watts, who is Black, set off a firestorm over the treatment of pregnant women, in particular Black women, in the aftermath of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

"This 33-year-old girl with no criminal record is demonized for something that goes on every day," Watts' attorney, Traci Timko, told the judge at a recent preliminary hearing, The Associated Press reported. She said the delay in the hospital's response when Watts sought medical care was due to hospital officials debating the legal concerns. 

"It was the fear of, is this going to constitute an abortion and are we able to do that," she said, The AP reported. Trumbull County prosecutor Dennis Watkins said in the Thursday statement that his office suffered "criticism and vicious personal attacks by the few who didn't understand that a reasonable amount of time was needed" to investigate the case. 

Research has shown that Black women have a higher rate of miscarriage than White women, and a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Black women are three times more likely to die due to a pregnancy-related issue than White women, due to factors including the quality of health care, underlying health conditions, structural racism and implicit bias. 

–The Associated Press contributed reporting.

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Cara Tabachnick

Cara Tabachnick is a news editor and journalist at CBSNews.com. Cara began her career on the crime beat at Newsday. She has written for Marie Claire, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. She reports on justice and human rights issues. Contact her at cara.tabachnick@cbsinteractive.com