Abortion

​Thankfully, women can still go to jail in England for aborting their unborn child at 30 weeks, a commentator has argued.
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By The Newsroom
Published 15th Jun 2023, 10:03 BST
Updated 15th Jun 2023, 10:04 BST

The comments came after Carla Foster, 44, was given a 28-month extended sentence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court after admitting illegally procuring her own abortion when she was eight months pregnant.

Bioethicist and independent crossbench peer Baroness Deech branded the sentence a “barbaric method of punishment”.

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Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson noted that women on the left were outraged by the sentence.

An NHS image of a foetus at 13-20 weeks' gestation. Abortion is now legal in Northern Ireland up until birth 'to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or girl', or in cases of 'severe fetal impairment'.An NHS image of a foetus at 13-20 weeks' gestation. Abortion is now legal in Northern Ireland up until birth 'to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or girl', or in cases of 'severe fetal impairment'.
An NHS image of a foetus at 13-20 weeks' gestation. Abortion is now legal in Northern Ireland up until birth 'to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or girl', or in cases of 'severe fetal impairment'.

“Well, as it happens, I too am outraged,” she said.

“Outraged on behalf of the baby in this case whose mother did a Google search for, ‘I need to have an abortion but I’m past 24 weeks’ and, ‘Could I go to jail for aborting my baby at 30 weeks?’”

Ms Pearson added: “Thankfully, the answer to the latter question is still yes.”

However, she went on to argue that the UK is “worryingly” out of step with the majority of European countries where the median time limit for abortion is just 12 weeks.

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Sweden is 18 weeks and only the Netherlands has the same 24-week limit as the UK.

Twenty years ago Ms Pearson was faced with the option of an abortion at 21 weeks and asked a gynaecologist what that would be like. “‘Horrible for all concerned,’ she said grimly, ‘Horrible for mum, for baby, for nurses and doctor’.”

She added: “Terminating a baby between 32 and 34 weeks’ gestation is not, and never will be, 'healthcare'. Sorry, but a woman’s 'reproductive rights' do not include stopping the heart of a baby that can live outside its mother’s body.”