Weeks after an Ohio jury opted not to indict a Black woman after she faced prosecution for suffering a miscarriage, she sat down with CBS Mornings‘ Jericka Duncan to discuss one of the most traumatic moments of her life.
Brittany Watts, 34, of Warren, Ohio, faced “abuse of a corpse” felony charges—a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine—after she miscarried while using the bathroom in her home 22 weeks into her pregnancy in September 2023—a couple of days after doctors said her pregnancy wasn’t viable and left her untreated for hours.
The driving factor for Watts’ felony charge was her attempt to flush the fetus, clogging the toilet. But Watts and physicians attested to the events leading up to the miscarriage playing a major role.
On Sept. 19, 2023, Watts noticed something off with her pregnancy and did what she was supposed to do: go to her gynecologist.
“I noticed that I was leaking the fluid, and it was uncomfortable,” she said. “I didn’t know if I had used the bathroom on myself or what was going on.”
The 34-year-old mother also noticed bleeding and was told by her doctor that her pregnancy was nonviable despite there being a faint heartbeat. Medical personnel transferred her to Mercy Health St. Joseph Waren Hospital, where doctors confirmed her gynecologist’s verdict.
Hospital staff placed Watts in a room, and nurses came in and out to check her vitals, but no one told her anything. After eight hours of no information, she left as nurses and medical staff warned her against it due to fatal risks.
“I was frustrated. I felt ignored,” Watts told CBS Mornings.
She returned the next day expecting a labor induction, aka inducing labor. Doctors put an IV in her, one inducing labor method where doctors administer Oxytocin (Pitocin). But for 11 hours, no one updated Watts to at least alleviate her worries. She was 21 weeks and six days pregnant.
What she didn’t know then was that doctors referred her case to the hospital’s Ethics Committee after she inquired about abortion being the next phase of her 22-week pregnancy.
Abortions are restricted in Ohio, making it illegal when the fetus passes 22 weeks and reaches the “viability” stage—developed enough to survive outside the uterus with medical assistance, except to save the mother’s life.
Yet, the hospital and her OBGYN informed her that the pregnancy was unviable, hence why she mentioned abortion.
Six hours later, the committee approved labor inductions for Watts, recommending doctors acted immediately before she was “on death’s door.”
The excessive amount of time Watts sat in her hospital room without any updates made her frustration grow, and she wondered if doctors were intentionally withholding pertinent information.
She left again and miscarried two days later.
“I go to the bathroom. I sit down on the toilet,” she said. “I’m just doubled over. And that’s when I hear ‘splash.’ And then I look down. There’s blood. And I’m like, ‘Okay, I have to get cleaned up.’ All while thinking, ‘Wow, did that really just happen?’ But it really just happened. I’m really awake right now.”
Watts returned to Mercy Hospital and recalled a nurse rubbing her back and comforting her, affirming all was well. It was the same nurse who called the police, claiming Watts said she didn’t want to see her child and that she didn’t want her baby.
“I said that I did not want to look. I never said I didn’t want my baby. I would have never said something like that. It just makes me angry that somebody would put those words in my mouth to make me seem so callous and so hateful.”
Warren Police Department arrested her, and she was charged.
An investigation ensued, which saw investigators removing the toilet and taking it to medical examiners, who found no injuries on the fetus and ruled that the baby died before infiltrating the birth canal. Additionally, prosecutors couldn’t find a law to support the charges.
Watts’ case is an example of the racial disparities in maternal and infant health. Research shows that Black women or women of color have the highest rates of mistreatment when receiving maternity care than their white counterparts, leading to increased maternal deaths and near misses.
A study conducted by WHO researchers showed that women who reportedly were mistreated recalled doctors shouting, scolding, threatening, or ignoring them as they expressed concerns or pains they were experiencing.
