UK woman jailed for taking abortion pills after the legal term limit

17-06-2023

Ecenur Uyanık

Women’s Rights Researcher, 

Global Human Rights Defence.

A mother of three in the UK has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for procuring drugs during the pandemic lockdown to induce an abortion after the legal limit of 10 weeks. The woman obtained the medication through the government’s “pills by post” program which authorised pregnant people to access abortion medications until they reached the tenth week of pregnancy, following a remote consultation by phone (Thomas, 2023).

The court determined that the woman misinformed the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) about how far along she was in her pregnancy. The BPAS mailed her the drugs after concluding she was 7 weeks pregnant based on her answers during the telephone consultation in May 2020. Five days later, after the woman ingested the drugs, she called the emergency services when she went into labour and experienced stillbirth during the phone call (Haq, 2023). She later admitted to a judge that she knew she was about 28 weeks pregnant when she requested the drugs from BPAS. After a post-mortem examination, doctors concluded that she was actually 32 to 34 weeks pregnant at the time (Thomas, 2023). 

Details of the Case and the Court’s Reasoning

Case details revealed that the woman had not visited a doctor about her pregnancy because she was ‘embarrassed’ (Haq, 2023). The court also heard that the woman had made Google searches such as “how to have an abortion without going to the doctor”, “how to lose a baby at six months”, “could I go to jail for aborting my baby at 30 weeks” (Al Jazeera, 2023). The 44-year-old woman, a mother of three children, has experienced depression and received mental health care after the abortion (Orecchio-Egresitz, 2023). 

The woman was initially charged with child destruction and pleaded not guilty (Oppenheim, 2023), but later pleaded guilty in March to an alternative charge under the Offences against the Person Act, Section 58 titled ‘Administering drugs or using instruments to procure abortion’, which is a law that is more than 160 years old (Offences against the Person Act, 1861). The maximum sentence of this charge is life imprisonment. She will serve half her sentence in prison and the remaining time supervised by probation (Al Jazeera, 2023). 

The presiding judge of the case, Justice Edward Pepperall, stated that the case was ‘tragic’ (Al Jazeera, 2023), and that he may have been able to consider suspending the jail sentence if the woman had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity (Oppenheim, 2023). During the proceedings, a mitigation plea was sent to the judge signed by medical professionals from Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives pleading that the woman not be imprisoned, as “it may signal to other women who access tele-medical abortion services, or who experience later gestation deliveries, that they risk imprisonment if they seek medical care,” (Thomas, 2023). Judge Pepperall said the letter was ‘inappropriate’ and stated that “if the medical profession considers that judges are wrong to imprison women who procure a late abortion outside the 24-week limit then it should lobby Parliament to change that law and not judges who are charged with the duty of applying the law.” (Oppenheim, 2023). 

Abortions in the UK

Abortions are still deemed a criminal act in England, Scotland and Wales under the 1967 Abortion Act. According to this law, abortions are generally legal for up to 24 weeks, but have to be carried out in a hospital or clinic after 10 weeks. The relevant legislations interpreted in conjunction means that the deliberate ending of a pregnancy between 10 and 24 weeks is illegal and women may face up to life imprisonment unless certain conditions are met, i.e., obtaining legal permission from two doctors, who must agree that continuing with it would be a risk to the woman’s physical or mental health. There are very limited circumstances that allow an abortion after 24 weeks, for example if the mother's life is at risk or the child would be born with a severe disability. Any medical professional who delivers an abortion out of the terms in the legislation can face criminal punishment. 

The law is framed in a way that makes abortion not a right, but instead, provides an exemption from prosecution in certain circumstances. This is more limited than many other European countries (Franks, 2023). 

Public Opinion

Following the custodial sentencing, several groups and individuals expressed outrage and concern over the outdated abortion laws in the UK. Clare Murphy, the chief executive of BPAS, said she was “shocked and appalled” by the sentence, adding: “There has never been a clearer mandate for parliamentary action, and the need has never been so urgent” (Thomas, 2023). Mandu Reid, the leader of the Women’s Equality party, said: “I am devastated for the woman at the centre of this case, and for her children, who have been forcibly separated from their mum … This conviction serves no one, not her, not her children, not the public interest. All it does is punish a woman for seeking healthcare in the middle of a pandemic and risk deterring women who want or need an abortion from seeking that care in future. No one deserves to be criminalised for seeking healthcare, which is a human right.” (Thomas, 2023). 

Chiara Capraro, head of Amnesty International’s women’s human rights programme, described the decision as “shocking and quite frankly terrifying”. “Access to abortion is essential healthcare and should be managed as such.” Former chief crown prosecutor for the northwest of England, Nazir Afzal argued that it was not in the public interest to prosecute. Citing public feeling towards laws restricting abortions and the woman’s mitigating factors, he told the BBC: “Had I been involved, had I been doing this particular case, I would not have prosecuted it. This whole terrible event took place during the pandemic and people were making some terrible choices during that period that perhaps they regret now. And I think that’s one of the things I would have factored in, in relation to this particular case.” (Al Jazeera, 2023). 

The outrage at the custodial sentence emphasize that abortion should be decriminalised so that it’s solely a health care issue which concerns a human right. A march has been organised on Saturday urging for legal reform (Oppenheim, 2023). 

Sources and further readings:

Abortion Act 1967, c. 87. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/87/contents 

Al Jazeera (June 13, 2023). As a woman is jailed, UK urged to reform ‘outdated’ abortion laws. Retrieved on June 15, 2023 from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/13/as-a-woman-is-jailed-uk-urged-to-reform-outdated-abortion-laws#:~:text=Abortions%20in%20Britain%20are%20legal,after%2010%20weeks%20of%20pregnancy. 

Haq, S. N. (June 13, 2023). Woman who took abortion pill after UK term limit sentenced to 28 months. CNN. Retrieved on June 14, 2023 from https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/12/uk/woman-jailed-abortion-pill-intl-gbr/index.html 

Franks, J. (June 13, 2023). What are the abortion laws in UK and the punishments for breaking them? Sky News. Retrieved on June 15, 2023 from https://news.sky.com/story/what-are-the-abortion-laws-in-uk-and-the-punishments-for-breaking-them-12901487

Offences against the Person Act 1861, c. 100. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/24-25/100/contents 

Oppenheim, M. (June 13, 2023). Woman jailed for taking abortion pills after legal cut-off in ‘tragic’ case. Independent. Retrieved on June 14, 2023 from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/abortion-prison-medical-abortion-b2355984.html 

Orecchio-Egresitz, H. (June 12, 2023). Mom of 3 sentenced to 28 months in UK jail for taking abortion pills after the 10-week legal limit. Insider. Retrieved on June 14, 2023 from https://www.insider.com/mom-sentenced-28-months-uk-jail-taking-abortion-pill-2023-6 

Thomas, T. (June 12, 2023). Outrage at jail sentence for woman who took abortion pills later than UK limit. The Guardian. Retrieved on June 14, 2023 from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/12/woman-in-uk-jailed-for-28-months-over-taking-abortion-pills-after-legal-time-limit