(NewsReady.com) – Ohio won’t be prosecuting a woman who was accused of abusing a corpse after she suffered a miscarriage. Brittany Watts has been facing the threat of a trial since last September. A grand jury has finally made a decision that ends her legal nightmare.
On September 22, 2023, 34-year-old Watts, who was around 22 weeks pregnant at the time but had just been told her pregnancy wasn’t viable, went to the bathroom and suffered a miscarriage while she was on the toilet. She went to the hospital for treatment, where medics called the police, and the cops opened an investigation. After they found the miscarried fetus in her toilet, Watts was told she could be charged with felony abuse of a corpse under Ohio Code Section 2927.01, which prohibits treating “a human corpse in a way that would outrage reasonable community sensibilities.” In November, her case was sent to a grand jury, to decide whether or not to charge her.
On January 11, the grand jury finally announced its decision: Watts won’t be indicted for the alleged offense. In a statement after the decision, Watts’ attorney Tracy Timko said she had been adamant all along that the law didn’t support the corpse abuse charge; in a video she posted on Facebook, she told supporters, “Justice has been served!”
Watts spoke at a rally after being exonerated and thanked the community for standing with her throughout her ordeal. Now, after nearly four months of worrying that she could be prosecuted for suffering a personal tragedy, she’s free to get on with her life.
The Watts case has been seized on by pro-abortion campaigners. Following the decision not to charge her, the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights released a statement on X (formerly Twitter), hailing it as “a firm step against the dangerous trend of criminalizing reproductive outcomes.”
OPRR appreciates the work of the grand jury in their decision not to indict Brittany Watts. This decision correctly recognizes the injustice of the criminal charges levied against Ms. Watts. pic.twitter.com/OXDKNBO2iO
— Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights (@OhioReproRights) January 11, 2024
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