A woman has been sentenced to 28 months in prison after pleading guilty to procuring drugs to induce an abortion after the legal limit.
The mother-of-three, 44, received the medication under the “pills by post” scheme which was introduced during the Covid pandemic.
She will serve half of her sentence in custody and the remaining under licence.
The scheme allowed medication to induce an abortion to be supplied after a remote consultation for pregnancies up to 10 weeks.
The court previously heard the woman terminated her pregnancy past that point, and at a previous hearing had pleaded guilty to taking abortion pills after the legal time limit. During the hearing, the court heard the woman was not aware of how advanced the pregnancy was as she was unable to attend a scan during lockdown.
The woman pleaded guilty in March of this year to procuring drugs to induce an abortion under the Offences against the Person Act, legislation dating to 1861.
Labour MP Stella Creasy said: “It is an hangover from another era that our abortion laws are based not on healthcare considerations, but first and foremost criminal sanctions.
“This case shows that the failure to address this has very real modern day implications. In the light of repeated attacks on women’s rights and the lack of compassion this case shows, its never been more urgent to ensure it is a formal human right of all women in the UK to access a safe, legal and local abortion if she chooses”.
More details soon …
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