An Ohio woman is facing felony charges in connection with the abuse of a corpse after she suffered a miscarriage at home and attempted to flush the fetus down the toilet.
Brittany Watts, 33, suffered a miscarriage in the bathroom of her Warren home the third week of September. It was her first pregnancy.
Earlier that week, she was admitted twice to Mercy Health St. Joseph Warren Hospital when she developed painful cramps and bleeding.
However, both times she left after waiting for hours to see a doctor.
“I was distraught, heartbroken, empty – literally and figuratively,” Watts said WCMH TV. She didn't tell anyone in her family about the pregnancy.
Brittany Watts, 33, was charged with gross abuse of a corpse after suffering a miscarriage at her home in Warren, Ohio
After trying to flush the fetus down the toilet, Watts was taken to the hospital, where a nurse called 911 and claimed Watts said she didn't want the baby.
Watts was just over 22 weeks pregnant when she suffered a miscarriage. It was her first pregnancy
After the miscarriage, which she suffered when she was just over 22 weeks pregnant, Watts flushed the toilet.
When the toilet overflowed, she used a bucket to clean up. Not wanting anyone to know about the pregnancy, Watts then went to the salon for a hair appointment.
But the hairdresser became concerned and called her mother. Watts was taken to the hospital, where a nurse called 911.
According to transcripts, the nurse told a dispatcher that Watts had been sent to the hospital earlier that week with a hemorrhage and had left “against medical advice.”
“She came back on Wednesday still bleeding and said, 'Maybe I need to be seen.' So we took her back in and we talked to her through everything and she disappeared,” the nurse continued.
She said Watts admitted that she had put the fetus in a bucket and placed it outside her home, and that she did not want the baby.
However, Warren police found the fetus still in the toilet. Watts was later arrested and charged with gross abuse of a corpse, a fifth-degree felony.
Watts was told the fetus was not viable, according to attorney Traci Timko, who previously served as the city's assistant legal director.
Watts appeared in court on November 2. Her attorney, Traci Timko, says the fetus was not viable, and a forensic pathologist confirmed it died before passing through the birth canal.
During the 911 call, the nurse told dispatchers that Watts had been admitted to the hospital earlier that week and had left “against medical advice.”
“It's a lot of pain, it's a lot of emotion, and she was terrified,” Timko said of her client. “There were so many things she was trying to deal with all at once.”
Watts said she felt “anger, scared, betrayed, confused and nervous” when she was arrested.
“Every negative emotion you could evoke in the English language, I felt,” she continued.
A preliminary hearing was held in Warren Municipal Court on November 2.
When Detective Nick Carney responded, he said Watts “said she felt the baby come out and there was a big splash.”
No injuries were found on the fetus, according to a forensic pathologist, who testified that the fetus died before passing through the birth canal.
The judge found probable cause to send the case to the Trumbull County Grand Jury for review.
Last week, Attorney General Dennis Watkins released a memo saying his office is “obligated” to follow Ohio law.
Under Ohio law, a person must treat a corpse “in a manner that would offend the reasonable sensibilities of the community” to qualify for the misdemeanor charge
Ohio Senate Bill 27 makes it a first-degree felony to dispose of fetal remains other than through cremation or burial. However, this law generally applies to health care facilities such as abortion clinics
State law includes provisions for the crime of abuse of a corpse and the crime of gross abuse of a corpse.
To qualify for the misdemeanor charge, a person must “treat a human corpse in a manner that would violate the reasonable sensibilities of the community.”
Timko believes her client will be acquitted. “Ohio law is on our side,” she said.
Friends of Watts have set up a GoFundMe to help cover her legal costs, writing: “We must help Brittany as she endures and fights this injustice, and we must ensure that no woman will be victimized in this way again. '
The campaign has already raised more than $200,000, more than double its goal.
Ohio Senate Bill 27 makes it a first-degree felony to dispose of fetal remains other than through cremation or burial.
But this law generally applies to health care facilities such as abortion clinics and not to private homes.
The bill proved controversial, and in February 2022 a federal judge blocked enforcement of the law after finding it violated clinics' and patients' rights to due process and equal protection.
A year earlier, the law was blocked because the Ohio Department of Health failed to provide the necessary documents.
Enforcement of the law has been suspended pending the final ruling in the case.