3 days ago
Prosecutor warns of potential charges against women who miscarry in West Virginia
BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — Could women in West Virginia who miscarry at home be charged with crimes related to disposal of a body, if they flush or bury fetal remains?
Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Tom Truman said that a number of criminal charges under state code, including felonies, could be levied against a woman who flushes fetal remains, buries them, or otherwise disposes of remains following an involuntary abortion, also called a miscarriage.
It was unclear if prosecutors could levy similar criminal charges against husbands or others who helped a woman during a miscarriage.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade, which offered federal protections for legal abortion, a Trumbull County prosecutor in Warren, Ohio, levied criminal charges against a pregnant woman who flushed her toilet after miscarrying at home at 21 weeks.
Ohio voters have since enshrined legal abortion rights in the state Constitution via ballot.
An abortion ban remains in effect in West Virginia.
West Virginia state code bars a woman from facing criminal charges for her own abortion.
However, Truman said on Friday, May 30, 2025, that a number of prosecuting attorneys in the state have discussed with him and other prosecuting attorneys their willingness to file criminal charges against women in pregnancy loss situations, by using state law related to disposal of human remains.
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Similar to the prosecution of the Ohio woman, whether or not to file a criminal charge would be left to the discretion of the prosecuting attorney, so women may be unable to predict the outcome of each situation.
'The kind of criminal jeopardy you face is going to depend on a lot of factors,' Truman explained. '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?'
'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 explained.
Truman added that women who miscarry at nine weeks or later could potentially face charges.
''Isn't there a difference between somebody that's eight months pregnant and nine weeks pregnant?'' said Truman. 'Those are going to be decisions that are going to have to be parsed out.'
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State law does not require a woman to notify authorities when she miscarries, but Truman said that women who miscarry in West Virginia can protect themselves against potential criminal charges by reporting the miscarriage to local law enforcement.
'Call your doctor. Call law enforcement, or 911, and just say, 'I miscarried. I want you to know,'' advised Truman.
Truman said he was unwilling to file charges in such cases.
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