West Virginia Prosecutor Warns Miscarriages Could Lead To Criminal Charges | EUROtoday

Women who miscarry in West Virginia must be ready to face potential felony fees, a county prosecutor warned an area information outlet final week, saying different regulation enforcers have raised the likelihood with him.

Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Tom Truman instructed WVNS 59News on Friday that whereas he wouldn’t take any such motion, quite a few different prosecuting attorneys in West Virginia have mentioned with him their willingness to cost girls who miscarry and eliminate their very own fetal stays, akin to by flushing or burying them.

The fees can be below a state regulation associated to the disposal of human stays. Though abortion is very restricted in West Virginia, state regulation says girls can not face felony fees for their very own abortions.

“The kind of criminal jeopardy you face is going to depend on a lot of factors,” Truman instructed the information outlet. “What was your intent? What did you do? How late were you in your pregnancy? Were you trying to hide something, were you just so emotionally distraught you couldn’t do anything else?”

A miscarriage is commonly simply heavier-than-normal bleeding. It generally includes handed tissue that appears like blood clots or a fluid-filled sac.

Women also needs to be cautious of what they share with others earlier than miscarrying, Truman suggested.

“If you were relieved, and you had been telling people, ‘I’d rather get ran over by a bus than have this baby,’ that may play into law enforcement’s thinking, too,” he warned.

While there’s no state regulation requiring girls to inform authorities a few miscarriage, it might be greatest follow to take action anyway, Truman added.

“Call your doctor. Call law enforcement, or 911, and just say, ‘I miscarried. I want you to know,’” he advised.

There is precedent for a lady going through felony fees associated to how she handles her miscarriage. In 2023, an Ohio girl named Brittany Watts was charged with abuse of a corpse after she flushed the fetal stays from her miscarriage at 21 weeks of being pregnant.

“This 33-year-old girl with no criminal record is demonized for something that goes on every day,” Watts’ legal professional Traci Timko mentioned at one in every of her courtroom hearings.

A grand jury in the end determined final 12 months that Watts shouldn’t be charged.

In April, a Georgia girl was arrested for allegedly throwing away fetal stays from her miscarriage and spent two nights in jail earlier than being launched on bail.

Her case “impacts every single woman out there of reproductive age, who knows she can get pregnant, who knows she can miscarry,” Georgia state Sen. Sally Harrell instructed HuffPost on the time. “It makes every woman of reproductive age afraid.”