A Black Ohio woman who miscarried in her bathroom has been charged with abuse of a corpse. Thirty-three-year-old Brittany Watts, of Warren, awaits grand jury action.

The 33-year-old Watts, who had not shared the news of her pregnancy even with her family, made her first prenatal visit to a doctor’s office behind Mercy Health-St. Joseph’s Hospital in Warren, a working-class city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Cleveland.

The doctor said that, while a fetal heartbeat was still present, Watts’ water had broken prematurely and the fetus she was carrying would not survive. He advised heading to the hospital to have her labor induced, so she could have what amounted to an abortion to deliver the nonviable fetus. Otherwise, she would face “significant risk” of death, according to records of her case.

That was a Tuesday in September. What followed was a harrowing three days entailing: multiple trips to the hospital; Watts miscarrying into, and then flushing and plunging, a toilet at her home; a police investigation of those actions; and Watts, who is Black, being charged with abuse of a corpse. That’s a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

  • girlfreddyOPEnglish
    181·
    11 months ago

    My first step-mother miscarried my half brother’s twin (without knowing she was even pregnant let alone with twins), and the only reason she knew to dig it out of the toilet to be tested was because she was a nurse.

    Expecting a traumatized non-medically trained woman to know the same is stupid at best.

    • ChexMax@lemmy.world
      12·
      11 months ago

      Also though, if it’s your first or even second miscarriage in a row, they won’t test it anyway. That’s an optional thing you spend a lot of money on. They straight told me there’s nothing we can do for you and there’s no point in testing after 2, because it’s so common that it’s just normal.

      If you go to pass it in the hospital that’s thousands of dollars, and only makes sense if you fear for your life. Dealing with the major period at home on the toilet and with adult diapers is way cheaper and much more comfortable in your grief.

      • girlfreddyOPEnglish
        4·
        11 months ago

        All true. But this was almost 50 years ago and in Canada.

        Although our politicians have swallowed the same cold fruit drink your’s have, we can still count on universal healthcare (and soon universal dental care) to keep us out of that kind of medical debt.