There are calls for changes to the abortion laws after a mother-of-three has been jailed for 28 months after using abortion pills to end her own pregnancy during the COVID lockdown
She had received abortion pills under the “pills by post” scheme the government introduced at the height of the Covid pandemic.
The court heard she thought she was around 28 weeks pregnant when she gave false information to the services offering abortion pills, in May 2020, claiming she was 10 weeks pregnant. Doctors said they later concluded that the foetus was between 32 and 34 weeks gestation when she took the pills.
Prosecutors said the woman had knowingly misled the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) by saying she was below the 10-week cut-off, when she believed she was about 28 weeks pregnant.
The woman, 44, pleaded guilty in March under the Offences against the Person Act, legislation that dates back to 1861
This discrepancy in the details the woman shared was uncovered after a probe into her online searches and messages.
Labour MP Stella Creasy condemned the sentencing: “This is happening here, not America, El Salvador or Poland. Here in the UK.”
