Prosecutor Suggests Miscarrying Women Call the Cops to Protect Themselves From Criminal Charges

Update, 6/10/25: The West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Association said it’s “incorrect” that women should self-report their miscarriages.

In recent years, there have been multiple reports of women being investigated for their miscarriages in Ohio, Texas, Georgia, and other abortion-banned states. Even if abortion bans say women and pregnant people can’t be criminally charged, cops can still go after them for an abortion or pregnancy loss, using other charges related to the disposal of remains. This week, one prosecutor chillingly reminded the public that cops who want to investigate someone will find a way.

A prosecuting attorney in West Virginia, where abortion is banned in almost all circumstances, told a local news outlet on Friday that women who miscarry could face felony charges if they flush or bury their fetal remains, and that the gestation of the pregnancy could be a factor in whether authorities press charges. Yet he also encouraged women to inform police about their miscarriage if they didn’t do anything wrong, suggesting that this completely non-required step could prevent them from being charged.

Raleigh County prosecutor Tom Truman told WVNS that state prosecutors have discussed their willingness to file criminal charges in pregnancy loss cases using state law regarding the disposal of human remains. Truman said that while he did not support such charges, he outlined his colleagues’ thinking as it applies to the intent of women and pregnant people, as well as gestation.

Here is a revealing section from the story:

“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.”

It appears that Truman may have been trying to warn people about the possibility of criminal charges, because he then suggested to the reporter that West Virginia women could protect themselves by reporting their own miscarriages to the police. “Call your doctor. Call law enforcement, or 911, and just say, ‘I miscarried. I want you to know,’” Truman said. Taken together,  Truman’s statements imply that if women have nothing to hide, they should tell someone in power about their pregnancy loss.

While it is good for a prosecutor to state publicly that he doesn’t support filing charges after a miscarriage, it’s “equally disheartening” that his colleagues have apparently been discussing that prospect, said Yveka Pierre, senior litigation counsel at If/When/How, a reproductive justice organization.

“We shouldn’t be putting people in jail for how their pregnancy ends, full stop,” Pierre told Jezebel. “We shouldn’t be theorizing how we can do that.”

But she added that the choice falls to each prosecutor, which is why it’s alarming to suggest that people should inform authorities about their pregnancy loss. “Prosecutors in individual jurisdictions can make decisions based upon their feelings and their thoughts about whatever an issue is and go after someone,” Pierre said.

Regarding pregnancy loss specifically, Truman outlined elements that his colleagues might consider, like emotional state, intent, and gestational age of the embryo or fetus. Pierre said that in past criminal cases, law enforcement has tried to moralize the proper way someone should feel about their pregnancy and how they react if they lose it. These subjective assessments don’t match people’s lived experiences. “Even the folks that were on their knees every day praying to be pregnant, they have a day where they’re just like, ‘well, I’m sick of this,'” she said. “Is that enough for somebody to be criminalized?”

If people do have questions about their pregnancy loss, they can call If/When/How’s Repro Legal Helpline at (844) 868-2812 for confidential legal information and advice, or they can contact the Miscarriage + Abortion Hotline at (833) 246-2632 for confidential medical support.

Truman’s hypothetical example of a stillbirth at eight months is also telling. The concept of fetal viability, or when a fetus could survive outside the uterus, implicitly grants a degree of personhood. A recent report from Pregnancy Justice, which has represented people prosecuted for pregnancy loss, notes that prosecutors often justify charges with viability or personhood arguments. “Under these frameworks, a fetus is always a potential victim with legal rights and a pregnant person who does anything the State determines is violative of those rights will be punished,” the report says.

Pierre said it’s laughable to suggest that calling 911 or the police would protect people. “Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be fine if you self-report and tell them ‘I didn’t do anything wrong,'” Pierre said sarcastically. “I don’t think you need to be a co-writer on Law & Order SVU to think about why that is a not so great idea.”

Telling a doctor is also unnecessary and potentially dangerous, given the history of healthcare workers reporting their patients to the police. Plus, anyone following his suggestion to inform a physician creates a norm for others to do the same, and can make people who don’t do it look suspicious, Pierre said. “It’s almost creating a requirement that doesn’t exist,” she added.