Virginia AG: Disposal of stillborn fetus doesn’t violate law

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia’s attorney general says that a state law prohibiting the concealment of dead bodies does not apply to stillborn fetuses.

Attorney General Mark Herring issued an official opinion Wednesday in the case of a Virginia woman who was convicted and sentenced to five months in jail for disposing of a fetus that had died in her womb and led to a miscarriage in 2016.

The Virginia Court of Appeals recently upheld the woman’s conviction.

The Washington Post reports that Herring acknowledged his office made a mistake by arguing in a brief that Katherine Dellis’ conviction should be upheld. Herring said he disagreed with the decision, but the case was never brought to his attention.

In his opinion, Herring wrote that the state legislature never intended the statute to apply to the remains of stillborn babies.