An Ohio woman is suing a hospital and police force after she was apprehended following a miscarriage.
Brittany Watts, charged with abuse of a corpse after the incident, has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that medical professionals conspired with police to fabricate the criminal case against her.
The lawsuit names the hospital, the city of Warren, Ohio, and others, accusing them of violating Watts’s rights and federal law. This case, which gained national attention in 2023, has amplified fears about the criminalization of miscarriages in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s repeal.
“This case is a perfect example of the broader implications of the overruling of Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs case,” said Julia Rickert, Watts’s attorney.
In September 2023, Watts, 21 weeks into a wanted pregnancy, sought medical help for pain and bleeding. The lawsuit claims she received inadequate care before miscarrying at home while on the toilet. Following her return to the hospital, a nurse allegedly contacted police with false claims about Watts’s actions. A police officer interrogated Watts in her hospital bed and allegedly misrepresented the facts to suggest a crime.
Watts was arrested in October for felony abuse of a corpse, a charge dismissed in January 2024 after a grand jury declined to indict her. The lawsuit seeks damages for Watts’s mistreatment and criminalization, arguing violations of her constitutional and medical rights.
Watts, deeply affected by the ordeal, has decided to pursue nursing. “She feels strongly that that is not how medical care should work,” Rickert said. “She wants to be in a position to provide people with better care.”
