Staffordshire Magistrates Court, Horninglow Street, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. Image: Caron Badkin/Shutterstock.com
Two women in the UK are now facing life in prison for having an abortion; one of the accused obtained the pills required from an authorised provider.
A 25-year-old woman is accused of having ‘unlawfully administered to herself a poison or other noxious thing’ with the intention of inducing a miscarriage.
She allegedly took the drug, which is one of two pills routinely prescribed by doctors to abort a pregnancy, in January last year according to the Mail on Sunday, July 17.
The second unnamed woman is due to appear before Staffordshire Magistrates Court charged with child destruction under the Infant Life (Preservation) Act, which dates back to 1929.
The accused obtained pills from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) during the coronavirus lockdown under legislation introduced during the pandemic.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) were quick to respond to the article and posted a lengthy tweet stating: “On the front page of The Times today is the story that two women in England are currently being prosecuted for ending their own pregnancies.”
“They’re being prosecuted under laws up to 161 years old. It’s a travesty of justice. This is why we need to decriminalise abortion.”
“In the meantime, @MaxHillQC needs to take a hard look at these cases and recognise that there is absolutely no public interest in targeting desperate women – these, or any others.”
“Our society has moved on since 1861 – our prosecutors should too.”
It comes as similar freedoms are curtailed in the US, where the Supreme Court ruling which gave women a right to seek a termination, Roe V Wade, was recently overturned.
Roe v Wade was a landmark legal decision issued on January 22, in 1973, in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas statute banning abortion.
This in effect legalised the procedure across the United States.
The court held that a woman’s right to an abortion was implicit in the right to privacy protected by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
Prior to Roe v Wade, abortion had been illegal throughout much of the country since the late 19th century.
Since the 1973 ruling, many states imposed restrictions on abortion rights.
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24, 2022, stating that there was no longer a federal constitutional right to an abortion.
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