As a woman is jailed, UK urged to reform 'outdated' abortion laws

As a woman is jailed, UK urged to reform ‘outdated’ abortion laws

Public anger rises after a judge decided to prosecute a woman who secured pills for a late-term abortion.

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Protesters hold banners during an Abortion Rights Solidarity demonstration in London in July, 2022 [File: Henry Nicholls/Reuters]
Published On 13 Jun 202313 Jun 2023

Women’s rights groups, politicians and medics are calling on the British government to reform abortion laws after a woman was jailed for taking pills to end her pregnancy after the 24-week limit. The 44-year-old mother of three was sent the medicine by post during a COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, a scheme that was introduced during the pandemic because many in-person services were closed due to social distancing measures.


A court heard this week that she misled the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) about how far along in the pregnancy she was, in order to secure the pills. On Monday, she was sentenced to 28 months in prison after admitting to terminating her pregnancy when she was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant. Abortions in Britain are legal before 24 weeks and must be carried out in clinics after 10 weeks of pregnancy.

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Harriet Wistrich, head of the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ), questioned the legislation and the prosecution of the woman. “What possible purpose is served in criminalising and imprisoning this woman when at most she needs better access to healthcare and other support?” Wistrich said. “She is clearly already traumatised by the experience and now her children will be left without their mother for over a year.”
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Protesters hold signs as they attend an Abortion Rights Solidarity demonstration, in London, Britain [File: Henry Nicholls/Reuters]

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Seána Grant
@GrantSana
Sentencing a woman to 28 months prison for procuring her own abortion, during the first lockdown when access to face to face medical care, was beyond the mental load of many, is depraved and shame on the judge who could have just not done it, shame disgrace & a burning injustice
BPAS tweeted: “No woman can ever go through this again. We need abortion law reform in Great Britain NOW.”

Dame Diana, who has previously tried to repeal 1861 legislation, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think Parliament has a role now to look at reforming our abortion laws. There’s no other country in the world, as I understand it, that would criminalise a woman in this way.”
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/13/as-a-woman-is-jailed-uk-urged-to-reform-outdated-abortion-laws