Yesterday a woman received a 28 month sentence, with over a year in custody, for using abortion pills to end her pregnancy. Humanists UK has reacted with shock and horror, and calls for immediate action to reform abortion law in England and Wales.
Carla Foster, a mother of three, will spend 14 months in custody and a further 14 months on licence, as she took abortion bills outside the legal limit using pills at home during the pandemic. Ms Foster was initially charged with child destruction which she denied and later pled guilty to an offence under a Victorian law, the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act.
With the circumstances she was under, I can imagine choosing the legal risk against being forced to carry and raise an unwanted child. Especially since there likely was confusion over earlier-term abortion services at the time potentially causing the process to go on longer than she wanted.
She reconciled with the father of her other sons, just as lockdown started, but was pregnant with someone else’s child. I hope this gets appealed, even if just for the kids’ sake.