A Black Ohio woman who was charged after having a miscarriage in her bathroom toilet last year said she does not “want any other woman to go through what I had to go through.”
Brittany Watts, 34, spoke with CBS Mornings in her first interview following her September arrest. Authorities got involved after a hospital nurse who consoled Watts when she sought medical help called the police, Watts said. Earlier this month, an Ohio grand jury decided to dismiss the charges.
On Sept. 19, Watts was 21 weeks and five days pregnant when she noticed an “uncomfortable” fluid leaking from her, she said. Her OB-GYN told Watts that her pregnancy was nonviable, according to a report by the Trumbull County Coroner’s Office. Watts was then transported by ambulance to Mercy Health St. Joseph Warren Hospital in Warren, Ohio, where she waited hours “for the doctor to come in or call,” she said during the interview.
“I kept asking whoever would come in to check my vitals — I said, ‘Have you heard anything?’ and they were like, ‘Oh, well, we’re still waiting. We’re still waiting.’”
Watts waited at least eight hours before deciding to leave the hospital “against medical advice,” according to medical records. The hospital report also states that Watts understood her risk of complications, including hemorrhage, sepsis or death.
Watts returned to the hospital the next day to get a labor induction; she waited for 11 hours, she said, but was never induced and opted to go home.
“I felt frustrated,” Watts said. “I felt ignored.”
Watts’ case was referred to Mercy Health’s ethics committee that day, after staff reported concerns with Watts using the word “abortion” when discussing the next steps to her care, according to medical records shown by CBS News. In Ohio, abortions after 22 weeks into a pregnancy are banned with exceptions to life-saving care, according to the state’s law.
In a statement to NBC News, Mercy Health declined to give…
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