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An Ohio grand jury has spared a woman from a charge of abuse of a corpse charges after the prosecution attempted to build a criminal case against her for miscarrying a non-viable pregnancy in her home.
Brittany Watts faced a fifth-degree abuse of a corpse after officers with the Warren Police Department found the remains of a fetus stuck in a toilet at her home on 22 September. Ms Watts, 34, had miscarried after visiting the emergency room twice without being able to get treatment.
Despite testimony from a forensic pathologist who said that an autopsy determined there were no injuries to the fetus and that it had died before passing through the birth canal, a judge ordered in November that the case should go before a grand jury.
On Thursday, a Trumbull County grand jury declined to pursue charges against Ms Watts.
The criminal case against Ms Watts sparked uproar from women’s rights groups, with Ms Watt’s attorney Traci Timko saying in a court hearing last year that her client’s miscarriage was the result of delayed medical attention as her physicians struggled to figure out how to treat her unviable pregnancy in post-Roe v Wade Ohio.
Local organizations have arranged a rally in support of Ms Watts at 4pm on Thursday in the city of Warren.
This is a developing story … check again for updates.