An Ohio resident is facing charges after she had a miscarriage — the latest incident connected to a wider concern about the criminalization of pregnant women and postpartum women.
Brittany Watts, 33, of Warren, Ohio, was charged with felony abuse of a corpse, and her case will be presented before a grand jury, WKBN reported. Authorities allege that Watts left the remains of a fetus in a toilet after having a miscarriage. She had been 22 weeks pregnant at the time.
In late September, local law enforcement officials responded to Watt’s residence in Warren, which is about 56 miles from Cleveland, where they found the corpse in the toilet, according to the Tribune Chronicle. They noted that there were signs of injury on the deceased baby.
Warren Police Detective Nick Carney said Watts claimed “she felt the baby come out, and there was a big splash,” WKBN reported. During a preliminary court hearing in early November, Dr. George Sterbenz, a forensic pathologist, explained that there was no injury to the fetus, adding that the baby died before she gave birth and that she went to the hospital two times before the incident happened.
“This fetus was going to be non-viable. It was going to be non-viable because she had premature ruptured membranes — her water had broken early — and the fetus was too young to be delivered,” Sterbenz said, per the outlet.
Watts’ attorney argued that her client has no criminal history and is being villainized for an everyday occurrence. However, Warren assistant prosecutor Lewis Guarnieri highlighted what authorities say happened that day.
“The issue isn’t how the child died, when the child died — it’s the fact that the baby was put into a toilet, large enough to clog up a toilet, left in that toilet, and she went on [with] her day,” Guarnieri said, per the report.
Watts’ case resurfaced and went viral on social media after national civil rights attorney Ben Crump shared her story, calling it “heartbreaking.” According to a 2021 CBS News report citing a medical journal, Black women have a 43 percent higher risk of having a miscarriage than white women.
A report from Pregnant Justice said that more than a thousand pregnant women who were arrested between 200 and 2022 were criminalized for miscarriages, failing to wear a seatbelt, and not seeking medical care while pregnant and having HIV, among other reasons, according to the HuffPost.
“We should all be incredibly concerned about the fact that pregnant people are getting arrested, prosecuted, separated from their children and incarcerated for actions that should not be illegal,” said president of the nonprofit organization Lourdes Rivera, per the outlet.
People on social media reacted to Municipal Court Judge Terry Ivanchak moving her case forward.
Jennifer Gunter, an OBGYN, shared her story: “I delivered at 22 weeks into a toilet. It is panic. Absolute panic. My body told me it was a bowel movement. I was in a hospital and an OB/GYN and all I could do was scream. The fetus is very small. I can see someone doing this. It’s not abusing a corpse.”
