While a defense lawyer says the district attorney should withdraw a criminal charge against a Bloomfield woman who placed her fetus in a freezer, the Allegheny County prosecutor is likely to enhance the charges against her.

Christine Hutchinson, 22, was charged last week with abusing a corpse.

Sources close to the case said yesterday the district attorney may tack on an additional misdemeanor charge of concealing the death of an unborn child, which carries a heavier penalty.

Ms. Hutchinson is incarcerated and receiving treatment in the mental health unit at the Allegheny County Jail, according to her lawyer, Lawrence Fisher. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Thursday.

Mr. Fisher said yesterday that his client may have exercised poor judgment, but she did not commit a crime by storing her stillborn fetus in an empty beer box in her freezer.

The county medical examiner determined Friday that the female fetus died in utero at about 19 to 20 weeks gestation.

"Most women would have discarded the stillbirth. My client, however misguided, decided to preserve it," he said.

He said Ms. Hutchinson was distraught about losing her job and being disowned by her family as a result of the case.

Mr. Fisher said he will ask the hearing judge to drop the charges regarding mistreatment of the body. He said he plans to argue that a fetus cannot be a corpse.

"You don't have a corpse here, you have a miscarriage," he said. "Pennsylvania law says there should be no criminal liability imposed upon a pregnant woman in regard to crimes against her unborn child."

He said the law dates to 1751 and was reaffirmed by the state Supreme Court as recently as 2001.

Authorities became involved last week when someone called 911 and reported the death. Ms. Hutchinson told investigators she delivered the baby April 22 and did not call paramedics or police, court papers said.

"The fact that she's being prosecuted for this causes me great concern for any woman who might have a miscarriage," Mr. Fisher said.