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.
The problem raised by the rights organisation is that the law used to charge the woman is one that should not be on the books - it essentially leaves wide open space to find women guilty for having an abortion for any reason. It’s an archaic law used just because the judge and prosecution wanted to find the woman guilty of something so they just went with whatever would work.
The reason that the woman waited so long to get an abortion is due to a lack of access to healthcare and resources in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The woman was searching online about how to get an abortion at a point where it was entirely legal for her to do so, but she was unable to access those services due to the pandemic.