Had Brittany Watts been indicted, a dangerous precedent would have been set.

Watts, of course, is the Warren woman whose charges recently were dropped after a Trumbull County grand jury declined to indict her on abuse of a corpse charges after she miscarried in her home at about 21 weeks into her pregnancy.

While it may be an uncomfortable and difficult topic to discuss or accept, the fact is that miscarriages frequently occur in women’s homes — often into the toilet, like this situation, which we can only presume was highly traumatic. In fact, the March of Dimes estimates that 10% to 20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. But the actual number could be even higher because many happen early on, before women even know they are pregnant. Many of those happen into the toilet.

It is true Watts’ case may be unusual because she was in a later stage of the pregnancy when complications led her to lose the baby. However, it has been proven that the fetus died in utero and never took a breath.

Ohio law defines abuse of a corpse this way: “No person, except as authorized by law, shall treat a human corpse in a way that the person knows would outrage reasonable family sensibilities,” the law states. This kind of “abuse of a corpse” would be a second-degree misdemeanor.

In addition, “No person, except as authorized by law, shall treat a human corpse in a way that would outrage reasonable community sensibilities,” the law says. A violation of these terms constitutes “gross abuse of a corpse,” a fifth-degree felony.

However, Watts’ attorney, Traci Timko, has pointed out that no Ohio law exists requiring a mother suffering a miscarriage to bury or cremate those remains.

After suffering complications and seeking medical treatment in the emergency room at St. Joseph Warren Hospital, Watts faced the reality that her pregnancy was nonviable. After two lengthy visits to the ER with no resolution, she left against medical advice and eventually miscarried in the bathroom at her home.

She scooped some of the remains from the toilet into a bucket and flushed the rest.

When she returned to the hospital, a nurse there called Warren police to report she was advising that the baby was in a bucket.

Police responded to the home and even removed the toilet to chisel out some fetal remains.

Watts was criminally charged.

During a preliminary hearing, Warren City Prosecutor Lewis Guarnieri said, “The issue isn’t how the child died or when the child died. It’s the fact that the baby was put into a toilet and was large enough to clog up the toilet, left in that toilet, and she went on (with) her day.”

Watts last week told our reporter, Chris McBride, “because that’s what women do when they miscarry. They go on about their day.”

The case has received national media attention, largely on the heels of the abortion and reproductive rights debate in Ohio and nationwide.

“Women miscarry into toilets everyday,” Timko has said. “In fact, the Ohio Legislature has created broad immunity to women for acts or omissions during pregnancy and has admonished that women should ‘in no case’ be criminalized for the circumstances or outcomes of their pregnancies.”

Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights slammed the criminal charge against Watts, arguing it would deter other women who suffer miscarriages from seeking medical help.

“As citizens, we are outraged that the criminal justice system is being used to punish Ms. Watts who, like thousands of women each year, spontaneously miscarried a nonviable fetus into a toilet and then flushed,” the group said in an open letter to the Trumbull County prosecutor last month.

“By seeking to indict her, you are clearly implying that anyone who miscarries at any point in pregnancy in our state must retrieve the fetal tissue whether they are at home, at work, at school, at a restaurant or other public place and preserve it until the tissue can be disposed of properly even though Ohio law does not define what a proper disposal method would be,” the letter says. “As physicians we are deeply concerned that your actions will deter women who miscarry from obtaining the medical attention they need and deserve.”

We agree, and we believe the grand jury reached the correct outcome in determining no charges were warranted in this case.

Indeed, had she been indicted, the precedent could have been devastating for women all over Ohio.