At a time when France enshrines the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in its Constitution, the United Kingdom faces a sharp increase in convictions for abortion. In England and Wales, an 1861 law is used to prosecute women, and in at least one case it has resulted in a prison sentence.
France has become the only country in the world that protects the right to terminate a pregnancy in its Constitution, after this Monday access to abortion was officially added to the freedoms guaranteed in the French Magna Carta. This is a direct reaction to the decline in abortion rights in the United States and other countries.
However, across the English Channel, women still risk prosecution for undergoing the procedure, as abortion has not been decriminalized in the United Kingdom.
Britons face a sharp rise in abortion convictions, with a law dating back to 1861 being used to prosecute women and, in at least one case, leading to imprisonment.
Between 1967 and 2022, three women were convicted of illegal abortions in England and Wales. But in the last 18 months alone, six women have been prosecuted for alleged abortion crimes.
Of the six cases, three were closed and two are awaiting trial, according to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS). A woman was sent to prison.
Illegal abortion and life imprisonment
Under legislation passed 163 years ago, abortion remains a crime in England and Wales.
The Offenses Against the Person Act 1861 makes it illegal for a woman to procure her own abortion or to provide the means for another woman to terminate a pregnancy.
What makes the interruption of pregnancy accessible today is the Abortion Law, approved by Parliament in 1967. The law allows doctors to perform abortions and women to access them, but only if they have the authorization of two registered doctors and meet at least one of a number of specific circumstances.
These include the possible risk to the physical or mental health of the mother or any children in her family, any substantial risk to her life, and any serious physical or mental abnormality that the fetus may present.
A 24-week period was added in 1990, but with exceptions, for example if the woman is at risk of death or “permanent damage” to her physical or mental health, or if there is a serious fetal abnormality.
But outside of these restrictions, women can still face a sentence of life in prison, one of the harshest penalties for illegal abortions in Europe.
Many countries in Europe still punish people for having an abortion or for aborting outside the health system, says Mara Clarke, co-founder of Supporting Abortions for Everyone (SAFE), a pan-European charity to facilitate access to abortion. “But none of the penalties are life imprisonment,” she adds.
Doctors in England, Wales and Scotland have the final say on whether or not a woman can access an abortion. They determine whether the health risk is serious enough to require termination of pregnancy, whether abortion is necessary to prevent “serious permanent harm” to the woman's mental or physical health, and may even waive services. of abortion if they object for reasons of conscience.
A woman in England or Wales can even be prosecuted if she purchases abortion pills online without the authorization of the two required doctors, or if she terminates her pregnancy beyond the limit of 10 weeks for home medical abortions or 24 weeks for home abortions. in an accredited health center.
Other health professionals, including nurses, are not authorized to authorize an abortion, and double approval is only reserved for doctors.
“The reasons why a woman may want to terminate a pregnancy are not taken into account,” according to a UK abortion rights campaign group run by health professionals called Doctors for Choice. ).
“The law prevents nurses and midwives from playing a full role in abortion care despite being more than qualified to do so,” the group states on its website.
The Independent reported that Dr Jonathan Lord, co-chair of the British Society of Abortion Care Providers, is aware of at least 60 criminal investigations into alleged illegal abortions in England and Wales since 2018.
“An aberration”
“We really have better things to do with our time and money,” sighs SAFE's Clarke. “There are 60 investigations, yes, but how many abortions: 200,000?” She is frustrated that public attention is focused on prosecutions and not on the safe and guaranteed provision of abortion services for all.
“How many times did Carla Foster have to appear in court before her case was overturned?” For Clarke, the answer is “too many.”
Carla Foster is a mother of three who terminated her pregnancy outside the legal limit of 24 weeks in the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic. She took mifepristone – an abortion pill – after the limit expired, during the lockdowns imposed by the pandemic.
In June 2023, she was sentenced to 28 months in prison and sent to Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire, where she spent 35 days.
Foster took his case to an appeals court to reduce his sentence and won. The judge found Foster, 46, needed “compassion, not punishment”, and reduced his sentence to a 14-month conditional suspension. She was released from prison in July.
“The British public is very liberal on abortion and quite pro-choice,” says Sally Sheldon, a professor at the University of Bristol who specializes in health law. “It is relatively easy for people with access to the NHS to receive abortion care. In that context, these cases are really an aberration,” she adds.
However, the law – when applied – is severe.
“Most of these women have their laptops and phones taken away… There have been cases of women who have had custody of their children taken away because they were considered a risk to them,” Sheldon says. “It affects the entire family. The impact is enormous,” she says.
Sheldon surmises that the sudden increase in prosecutions could be related to increased awareness of abortion pills. “Since the pandemic, women can make an online consultation and have the pills sent to them,” she says. “I think that has created a much greater climate of suspicion around subsequent unexplained pregnancy loss or premature birth. It seems that most cases are reported by healthcare professionals… they are reported to the police.”
Earlier this year, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published new guidelines on abortion care. After expressing her “concern about the increasing number of police investigations after late-term abortions and pregnancy losses, and about the impact this may have on women,” she urged health professionals to “fulfill their professional responsibility to justify any disclosure of confidential patient information.
Labor MP Diana Johnson is expected to introduce an amendment to the UK's Criminal Justice Act this month that would end prosecutions of women for terminating pregnancies after the 24-week limit.
“If that amendment is selected for debate, I hope it has a good chance of passing,” Sheldon says. “But it's very difficult to know,” she says.
This article was adapted from its original in English
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