West Virginia Prosecutors Clarify Women Shouldn’t Be Charged Over Miscarriages | EUROtoday

A West Virginia prosecutors affiliation mentioned it must make it “abundantly clear” that it doesn’t intend to advocate its members prosecute girls within the state for a way they deal with their miscarriages.

In a press release Monday, the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Association mentioned the group wanted to set the file straight on these issues, which started circulating in current weeks after one of many state’s county prosecutors advised media retailers he’d heard rumblings about such fees from his counterparts in different counties.

“The West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Association wishes to clarify that recent public statements made regarding this subject do not reflect the consensus, official position or legal interpretation of the association, its officers, board members or members of its Legislative Committee,” the assertion mentioned.

The group’s president, Luke Furbee, in an interview Monday clarified that this was the view of the group’s management.

But county prosecutors in West Virginia are elected by voters and presumably may act on their very own to determine fees.

Late final month, Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Tom Truman advised WVNS 59News that various the state’s prosecuting attorneys had advised him they have been open to charging girls who miscarry and eliminate their very own fetal stays reminiscent of by flushing or burying them.

The fees could be filed beneath a state regulation associated to the disposal of human stays, Truman mentioned, noting he wouldn’t be keen to proceed with such prosecution. While abortion is closely restricted in West Virginia, state regulation says girls can’t be criminally charged for their very own abortions.

The WVPAA’s assertion, which doesn’t reference Truman straight, says such fees have been by no means “widely discussed” amongst West Virginia prosecutors and that ladies don’t want to guard themselves by calling 911 or different officers to report their miscarriages, as Truman instructed.

“The WVPAA wants to make abundantly clear that any assertion that individuals who experience the unfortunate event of a miscarriage in West Virginia should be notifying law enforcement or face potential criminal prosecution is incorrect and not supported by West Virginia law,” the WVPAA mentioned.

WV Free, a reproductive rights group within the state, thanked the group for clearing up the confusion.

“Having a miscarriage is not criminal!” WV Free govt director Margaret Chapman Pomponio mentioned in a press release, praising the WVPAA for “the crystal-clear statement.”

The Raleigh County authorities didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark from Truman or different officers concerning the WVPAA’s response to his warning.

When he spoke to native media late final month and later to CNN, Truman mentioned his issues have been based mostly on conversations he’d had together with his fellow prosecuting attorneys and shared particular particulars about what might be factored into fees.

“The kind of criminal jeopardy you face is going to depend on a lot of factors,” Truman advised WVNS 59News. “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?”

These are actual dangers following the autumn of Roe v. Wade, he advised CNN.

“It’s a different world now, and there’s a lot of discretion that prosecutors have, and some of them have agendas where they would like to make you an example,” he mentioned.

It wouldn’t be the primary time a girl was criminally charged in connection together with her miscarriage. In 2023, an Ohio lady was charged with abuse of a corpse after she flushed the fetal stays from her miscarriage at 21 weeks of being pregnant. And in April, a Georgia lady was arrested for allegedly throwing away fetal stays from her miscarriage. She spent two nights in jail earlier than being launched on bail.