Latest news with #OffencesAgainstthePersonAct
Daily Mirror
02-06-2025
- Daily Mirror
'7 police officers raided my house while I tried to resuscitate my baby'
A leading abortion charity shares the gut-wrenching stories of three women who have been accused of having an illegal abortion under Britain's "archaic" abortion laws On the back of an MPs debate over an e-petition calling for the decriminalisation of abortion in the UK, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has shared three harrowing cases of women affected under what have been described by campaigners as 'archaic' laws around women's bodily autonomy. Each year, around 60,000 babies are born prematurely in the UK, according to the NHS. One was born to Sammy*, who went into premature labour at home. But as she resuscitated her baby, seven police officers searched her bins, before the paramedics had even arrived. Sammy was then interviewed by police under caution for a suspected illegal abortion and her phone and computer were seized. Her home was sealed off 'like a crime scene'. She was left in the clothes she was admitted to hospital in, and was barred from contacting her partner. Despite providing forensic samples that did not show the presence of abortion drugs, she remained under police investigation for a year. Her baby had luckily survived despite the traumatic birth. However, Sammy was only allowed limited, supervised contact with them. As horrific as this scenario sounds, it's one that has been made possible through the current laws surrounding abortion in the UK. The Abortion Act was introduced in 1967 and allowed women to terminate a pregnancy up to 28 weeks with the certification of two doctors. In 1990, the limit was changed to 24 weeks. Meanwhile, the punishment for abortion can be severe. Abortion laws in the UK still fall under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which means that undergoing an abortion without the permission of two doctors, or after 24 weeks, can carry a life sentence. In the 10 years leading up to April 2022, England and Wales recorded at least 67 cases of procuring an illegal abortion, according to data obtained by The Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act. Katherine O'Brien, a spokesperson for BPAS, says that more than a hundred women have been investigated by the police over recent years. She told The Mirror: "These include women who have experienced a late miscarriage or a stillbirth, and women who were pressured to take abortion medication by abusive partners. Women have been arrested straight from hospital wards, their homes searched, their children taken away, all under our cruel and archaic abortion law." In December 2024, an e-petition calling for the decriminalisation of abortion in the UK. It received 102,855 signatures, before being brought to the UK parliament in April. The petition stated: 'I am calling on the UK government to remove abortion from criminal law so that no pregnant person can be criminalised for procuring their own abortion.' These laws affect women at all different stages in life. For example, Laura*, already the mother to a toddler, was studying at university when she pled guilty to ending her own pregnancy using illicit medication. She was told by prosecution that if she didn't plead guilty she would likely be jailed for life. She ended up being sentenced to more than two years in prison. She reported to BPAS at the time that she was in a physically, sexually, and emotionally abusive relationship, and that her partner told her not to go to the doctor. After she was arrested, he told her that he would kill her if she told anyone he was involved. He was never investigated by the police. Meanwhile, Sophie* was just a teenager when she was arrested at midnight and held in custody for 19 hours. She was suspected of ending her own pregnancy using illicit medication. In fact, the police raid was the first time her parents learnt that she had been pregnant. She was described by the prosecution as 'being vulnerable'. Despite this, she faced two trials. Throughout the proceedings, she maintained that she had had a traumatic stillbirth after only finding out she was pregnant after 24 weeks. The charge that she had ended her own pregnancy was dropped, but only after six years, and she still received a criminal record.
Wales Online
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Wales Online
'I watched a woman be prosecuted for an illegal abortion, now I want to change the law'
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info This week I tabled an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that if passed will decriminalise abortion. The move has the backing of more than 70 MPs and nearly 50 organisations including the British Medical Association and five medical Royal Colleges. Commenting on social media, some of my Gower constituents expressed disbelief that abortion could still be illegal in this country. But in the last five years, more than 100 women have been investigated by the police for suspected illegal abortion under a draconian law – the 'Offences Against the Person Act' 1861. Eight of these women have appeared in court. One has been jailed. Among those arrested have been women who've suffered natural miscarriages and stillbirths, and others who have gone into unexplained premature labour. This is just wrong. It's a waste of taxpayers' money, it's a waste of the judiciary's time, and it's not in the public interest. In 1967 the Abortion Act was introduced meaning you could legally access an abortion, provided you met certain criteria: you are under 24 weeks' pregnant, you meet one of seven medical reasons, and have your abortion signed off by two doctors. Today, that law still stands. It's why it's possible to access a safe, legal abortion. But if you're suspected of having an abortion without meeting the criteria at any gestation of pregnancy, you can be investigated, charged and ultimately prosecuted, potentially facing a life sentence – the most severe penalty for an illegal abortion in the world. In 2019 my colleagues in Westminster had the good sense to repeal this archaic law for Northern Ireland. My amendment will simply bring legislation up to date in England and Wales – and in line with 50 other places worldwide including the Republic of Ireland, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand. It was meeting Nicola Packer at her trial for alleged illegal abortion that compelled me to put forward the amendment. My colleague Tracy Gilbert MP and I spoke to her days before she was unanimously cleared by a jury in southwest London. Nicola was, as you might expect, hugely traumatised by her prosecution – having maintained throughout her trial that she was unaware she was any more than 10 weeks' pregnant. She has also spent the last four-and-a-half years waiting for her case to come to court, living in constant fear that she could go to jail. Seeing Nicola in the dock, afraid and humiliated, my heart went out to her. To me she was not the suspect, but the victim. The victim of a Victorian-era law that criminalises women who end their own pregnancies. That's why, this week in Parliament, I tabled the amendment to disapply the law to women in cases of suspected abortion offences. We absolutely have to recognise that criminalisation is not the way to provide the care and support that all of these incredibly vulnerable women need – my amendment will finally bring it to an end. The amendment will not, however, remove any important safeguards. It will not change any law regarding the provision of abortion services within a healthcare setting, including the time limit, the provision of telemedicine, the grounds for abortion, or the requirement for two doctors' approval. Parliament is expected to vote on the amendment in early summer. If it gets passed, all cases related to this outdated law currently going through the criminal justice system will end. And Nicola Packer will go down in history as the last woman in England and Wales to be prosecuted for an abortion. Tonia Antoniazzi is the Labour MP for Gower
Business Mayor
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Mayor
Why abortion rights in the UK are getting more and more perilous
E arlier this month, Nicola Packer was found not guilty of illegally terminating a pregnancy, after taking abortion pills beyond the legal limit of 10 weeks. She had spent more than four years living in the shadow of this prosecution, every detail of which – as reported by Phoebe Davis – is completely harrowing. In 2020, Packer was arrested before she left Chelsea and Westminster hospital, still bleeding from major surgery. Nicola Packer. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian Packer is one of six women to be prosecuted for this crime in England since the end of 2022, under the Offences Against the Person Act, which had previously only been used in such cases three times since its introduction in 1861. Even that striking, inexplicable figure doesn't begin to describe how many people have fallen victim to these prosecutions. There have been cases of women denied contact with their children while police investigated a charge that came to nothing. A teenager who had a late miscarriage was arrested in front of her entire street – her privacy, her education, her peace of mind completely destroyed. The consequences are so dire if you get caught in this net that informed women would rightly think twice about being honest with healthcare professionals – so quality of care is undermined for everyone. And while attempts are being made in parliament to take abortion legislation out of criminal law altogether, so that no woman is ever prosecuted in this intrusive and barbaric way in the future, as things stand at the moment, the situation is getting more perilous for women, not less. Read More Family law solicitor makes fashion dreams reality Campaigners in the field – notably Jonathan Lord, who is co-chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists abortion taskforce, and Hayley Webb, co-chair of Doctors for Choice UK – believe that some midwives and nurses are mistaken or confused about their duty of patient confidentiality. Abortion providers such as the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) wonder whether the emergency measures taken during Covid – to allow abortion pills to be prescribed remotely, rather than in person – have ushered in new anxiety around women's autonomy. Last December the National Police Chiefs' Council issued new guidance on 'child death investigation', advising that women's devices be checked for period tracker apps, Google searches, any communications that might 'establish a woman's knowledge and intention in relation to the pregnancy'. When Hampshire police found a human placenta in woodland in 2023, they asked BPAS for a full list of women who had made inquiries about a termination and then disengaged. BPAS was astonished by the request – it could have swept in hundreds of women, and didn't even have the legitimacy of a court order. Sometimes it is the police that seem overzealous, as in Packer's case; the Crown Prosecution Service wanted to drop it, and the Met successfully appealed that decision. Ultimately, though, it would be far-fetched to try to chase down a new anti-abortion tendency in assorted police forces. If there are increasing numbers of investigations and prosecutions, which there are, it is for the director of public prosecutions for England and Wales to explain why. Two years ago, I sought that explanation from the then DPP, Max Hill KC. The most formulaic response came back: he said he had 'a duty to ensure that laws set by parliament are properly considered and applied when making difficult charging decisions'. This law having been in place for more than 150 years, further explanation would have been helpful as to why that duty had become so pressing after 2020. Hill was succeeded the same year by Stephen Parkinson, who is now being urged by campaigners to do a more robust public interest test on cases like Packer's. Many women's groups question whether there is ever a public interest case for prosecuting a woman under these circumstances. It remains unknown what is driving these prosecutions, between an excess of caution post-Covid, a new wave of cultural misogyny finding its expression in reproductive surveillance, and a failure of institutional memory on the part of some healthcare workers as to what their duties are to their patients – or all these factors and more in some tangled feedback loop. Whatever the cause, everyone must now do their bit. Parliamentarians must take abortion out of the criminal law altogether, and the law itself, in the meantime, must rediscover its proportionality and reason.
Sunday World
02-05-2025
- Sunday World
Man appears in court charged with raping woman 35 times in Donegal in the 1980s
The accused cannot be named at this stage to protect the identity of the alleged victim. A man has appeared in court charged with raping a woman 35 times in Co Donegal. The accused, who is now aged in his 50s, appeared at Letterkenny District Court charged with the litany of alleged sexual offences. He is charged that on dates in the 1980s, at various locations in Co Donegal, he raped the woman. The accused cannot be named at this stage to protect the identity of the alleged victim. The charges are all Contrary to Section 48 of the Offences Against the Person Act, 1861 and Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) Act, 1981. Garda Sergeant Jim Collins told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions had consented for the accused to go forward for trial at the next sitting of the Circuit Criminal Court. Judge Eiteain Cunningham was told that Gardai had no objection to bail. Letterkenny District Court Today's News in 90 Seconds - Friday May 2 _duplicated However, a range of bail conditions were imposed on the accused man including that he stay at a named address, have no contact whatsoever with the alleged injured party and be of good behaviour. He was also ordered not to leave the jurisdiction before informing Detective Garda Eimear Hassett. The man's solicitor, Mr Patsy Gallagher, said he was seeking a number of medical certs on behalf of his client. The case was adjourned to June 16th for the service of a book of evidence.
Irish Daily Mirror
01-05-2025
- Irish Daily Mirror
Man appears in court charged with raping the same woman on 35 occasions
A man has appeared in court charged with raping a woman 35 times in Co Donegal. The accused, who is now aged in his 50s, appeared at Letterkenny District Court charged with the litany of alleged sexual offences. He is charged that on dates in the 1980s, at various locations in Co Donegal, he raped the woman. The accused cannot be named at this stage to protect the identity of the alleged victim. The charges are all Contrary to Section 48 of the Offences Against the Person Act, 1861 and Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) Act, 1981. Garda Sergeant Jim Collins told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had consented for the accused to go forward for trial at the next sitting of the Circuit Criminal Court. Judge Eiteain Cunningham was told that Gardaí had no objection to bail. However, a range of bail conditions were imposed on the accused man, including that he stay at a named address, have no contact whatsoever with the alleged injured party and be of good behaviour. He was also ordered not to leave the jurisdiction before informing Detective Garda Eimear Hassett. The man's solicitor, Mr Patsy Gallagher, said he was seeking a number of medical certs on behalf of his client. The case was adjourned to June 16 for the service of a book of evidence.
