A West Virginia prosecutors affiliation mentioned it must make it “abundantly clear” that it doesn’t intend to suggest its members prosecute girls within the state for the way they deal with their miscarriages.
In an announcement Monday, the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Affiliation mentioned the group wanted to set the document straight on these issues, which began circulating in latest weeks after one of many state’s county prosecutors informed media shops he’d heard rumblings about such costs from his counterparts in different counties.
“The West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Affiliation needs to make clear that latest public statements made relating to this topic don’t mirror the consensus, official place or authorized interpretation of the affiliation, 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.
However county prosecutors in West Virginia are elected by voters and presumably might act on their very own to resolve costs.
Late final month, Raleigh County Prosecuting Legal professional Tom Truman told WVNS 59News that a variety of the state’s prosecuting attorneys had informed him they have been open to charging girls who miscarry and get rid of their very own fetal stays comparable to by flushing or burying them.
The fees could be filed below a state regulation associated to the disposal of human stays, Truman mentioned, noting he wouldn’t be prepared to proceed with such prosecution. Whereas 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 instantly, says such costs have been by no means “broadly mentioned” amongst West Virginia prosecutors and that girls don’t want to guard themselves by calling 911 or different officers to report their miscarriages, as Truman urged.
“The WVPAA desires to make abundantly clear that any assertion that people who expertise the unlucky occasion of a miscarriage in West Virginia must be notifying regulation enforcement or face potential felony prosecution is inaccurate and never supported by West Virginia regulation,” the WVPAA mentioned.
WV Free, a reproductive rights group within the state, thanked the group for clearing up the confusion.
“Having a miscarriage shouldn’t be felony!” WV Free government director Margaret Chapman Pomponio mentioned in a statement, praising the WVPAA for “the crystal-clear assertion.”
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 primarily based on conversations he’d had along with his fellow prosecuting attorneys and shared particular particulars about what may very well be factored into costs.
“The sort of felony jeopardy you face goes to rely on lots of elements,” Truman informed WVNS 59News. “What was your intent? What did you do? How late have been you in your being pregnant? Had been you making an attempt to cover one thing, have been you simply so emotionally distraught you couldn’t do anything?”
These are actual dangers following the autumn of Roe v. Wade, he informed CNN.
“It’s a distinct world now, and there’s lots of discretion that prosecutors have, and a few of them have agendas the place they wish to make you an instance,” he mentioned.
It wouldn’t be the primary time a girl was criminally charged in connection along with her miscarriage. In 2023, an Ohio girl 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 girl was arrested for allegedly throwing away fetal stays from her miscarriage. She spent two nights in jail earlier than being launched on bail.
