A Northeast Ohio woman who suffered a miscarriage last fall and then was arrested because of the way she dealt with the remains won’t be indicted with a crime after all.
A grand jury heard the case involving 34-year-old Brittany Watts of Warren in December. Fetal remains were found in a clogged toilet at her home in September after Watts had sought medical treatment for a miscarriage three different times.
Watts had been charged with abuse of a corpse, a fifth-degree felony. Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, the group behind the successful Issue 1 November ballot question that enshrined abortion rights into the state’s constitution, had urged the Trumbull County Prosecutor to dismiss the charges but he didn't. The case was still presented to the grand jury.
The incident itself happened before the November election. But news of it and charges were not brought until after the passage of the reproductive rights amendment, which specifically guarantees miscarriage care - something opponents of the amendment had said was already in place in Ohio.
