The anguish of Brittany Watts
Miscarriage of a fetus more than halfway to term is one the most psychologically devastating events a woman can suffer. At any time, the trauma is extreme. At 21 weeks, the expectant mother could be weighing names. She may have picked out a crib and considered mobiles and other infant toys. She is likely imagining what it will be like to hold her newborn. Then her dreams are shattered.
Imagine all that. Then add to the traumatized woman's distress a charge of “felony abuse of a corpse”. That is how Ohio’s criminal justice system has treated Brittany Watts.
This unfortunate woman suffered a miscarriage at 21 weeks. And prosecutors are asking a grand jury to bring a felony indictment against her.
Watts's hospital saga
On September 19, Watts, then almost 22 weeks pregnant, was in intense pain and passing large clots of blood. Suspecting she was miscarrying, she went to the hospital. Doctors confirmed her fears. Although they could detect fetal cardiac activity, they told Watts her pregnancy was not viable.
Against medical advice, she left the hospital, telling the doctor she could “better process what was happening to her at home.”
The next day (September 20), Watts returned to the hospital. She expected the doctors to induce her to deliver her preterm pregnancy. Note: There was no legal bar to the procedure as abortion is legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy in Ohio and the state grants exceptions for abortions at any stage of pregnancy to protect the health or life of the mother.
However, Watts was denied timely care. For eight hours, doctors and officials debated the ethics of inducing labor for a woman who had been diagnosed with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), had no detectable amniotic fluid, was bleeding vaginally, and had advanced cervical dilation. Why?
The doctors wanted to practice medicine. One was particularly blunt about the urgency of getting on with it: “My recommendation, instead of waiting until mom is on death’s door before proceeding with treatment, [is] to deliver this baby” by inducing.
While the authorities dawdled, Watts, apparently frustrated and feeling God knows what other emotions, left. When the doctor returned to the hospital room to discuss the induction plan, her bed was empty.
The next day (September 21), Watts, still in pain and bleeding, returned to the hospital. She again left against medical advice after not being able to see her OB/GYN soon enough.
Watts’ miscarriage
The next morning (September 22), Watts suffered a miscarriage. The Washington Post reported:
"Watts was in her bathroom when she delivered a roughly 15-ounce fetus over the toilet. At the time, she said, she “didn’t know that at 5:48 a.m. [her] life would change forever.” The delivery left a mess of blood, stool, tissue and other bodily fluid, clogging the toilet. Watts scooped out what she believed was stopping the toilet and placed it outdoors, near the garage, cleaned the bathroom and showered, records show.
To maintain appearances to her mother, whom she had not told about the pregnancy, Watts drove to a hair appointment, said Traci Timko, Watts’s attorney. The hairdresser noticed Watts’s pale face and immediately called her mother to take her to the hospital."
The repercussions
No doubt some people will point the finger at Watts. They will question why she left the hospital three times before receiving treatment. They will demand to know why Watts did not dial 911 or otherwise notify authorities. They will call her behavior after the miscarriage odd. And they will deem her concealment of the pregnancy from her mother a sign of some nefarious thinking.
We can dismiss this flint-hearted reaction for four reasons.
- One, nothing she did imperiled a life. Doctors had already ruled the fetus unviable.
- Two, during times of mental trauma, we are all capable of acting in ways other people might criticize.
- Three, Watts's choice not to tell her mother she was pregnant is irrelevant.
- Four, no one in the Ohio criminal justice system is saying any of her behavior before the miscarriage or after she left the house is a crime.
Only her actions immediately after the miscarriage are in question. Here Ohio law is so fuzzy that charging Watts with a felony is legally suspect. And basic humanity demands that the authorities stick to the narrowest interpretation of the law.
The law lands like a boulder on Watts
I suspect the police, accustomed to seeing the worst in people, are playing gotcha with Watts. It seems that in her shock, she had left the dead fetus in the toilet and not put it outside with the other blood, stool, and tissue as she said. Should her misstatement be a felony?
Let me say again. Neither health-care workers nor law enforcement dispute that Watts’s pregnancy loss was natural. While the coroner’s report determined that the fetus was uninjured. Where is the abuse of a corpse?
Ohio law defines the crime thus: “No person, except as authorized by law, shall treat a human corpse in a way that would outrage reasonable community sensibilities.” The legislature originally passed the law as part of an anti-grave robbing measure. Not a factor here. Nor would anyone object to necrophilia, flesh-eating, and deliberate desecration as grounds for arrest.
Watts did none of that. And no one is suggesting that she had any intent to abuse a corpse. But now Watts faces a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
A Black and White issue?
So why are we here? Blame the Republican assault on women. Add to the mix the conservative mind’s inability to feel empathy. And last, wonder how much the fact that Watts is Black has thumbed the scales of justice.