The Trumbull County prosecutor’s office said grand jurors declined to return an indictment for abuse of a corpse against Brittany Watts, 34, of Warren, resolving a case that had sparked national attention for its implications for pregnant women as states across the country hash out new laws governing reproductive health care access.

The announcement came hours before her supporters planned a “We Stand With Brittany!” rally on Warren’s Courthouse Square.

A municipal judge had found probable cause to bind over Watts’ case. That was after city prosecutors said she miscarried, flushed and scooped out the toilet, then left the house, leaving the 22-week-old fetus lodged in the pipes. Her attorney told the judge Watts had no criminal record and was being “demonized for something that goes on every day.” An autopsy determined the fetus died in utero and identified “no recent injuries.”

Watts had visited Mercy Health-St. Joseph’s Hospital, a Catholic facility in working-class Warren, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Cleveland, twice in the days leading up to her miscarriage. Her doctor had told her she was carrying a nonviable fetus and to have her labor induced or risk “significant risk” of death, according to records of her case.

  • @MotoAsh
    link
    3910 months ago

    The protest BETTER have went on anyways, because the fact this even came up as a legal matter is utterly contemptable. Fuck Christofascists.