Reproductive rights group urges Ohio prosecutor to drop criminal charge against woman who miscarried

The physicians’ group behind Ohio’s new reproductive rights amendment is urging a local prosecutor to drop criminal charges against a woman who miscarried in the restroom at her home

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The physicians' group behind Ohio's newly passed reproductive rights amendment is urging a prosecutor to drop criminal charges against a woman who miscarried in the restroom at her home.

Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, a nonpartisan coalition of 4,000 doctors and others, argues in a letter to Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins that the abuse-of-corpse charge against Brittany Watts, 33, conflicts “with the spirit and letter” of Issue 1.

The measure, which was approved in November with 57% of the vote, guarantees an individual's “right to make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions.” It made Ohio the seventh-straight state to vote to protect reproductive rights since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the ruling that long legalized abortion nationally.

Watts’ case has touched off a national firestorm over the treatment of pregnant women, particularly those like Watts who are Black, in post-Roe America. Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump elevated Watts’ plight in a post to X, formerly Twitter, and supporters have donated more than $135,000 through GoFundMe for her legal defense, medical bills and trauma counseling.

Watts miscarried at home Sept. 22, days after a doctor told her that her fetus had a heartbeat but was nonviable. She twice visited Mercy Health-St. Joseph's Hospital in Warren and twice left before receiving care. Her attorney said she was left waiting for lengthy periods and felt anxious and judged.