A judge has jailed a mother for two years after she took abortion pills to kill her unborn baby at eight months’ gestation.
Carla Foster, 44, took the abortion-inducing drugs sent to her in the post when she was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant.
The upper time limit for abortion in the UK is 24 weeks but Foster, a mother of three, said she was too embarrassed to see a doctor when she conceived in 2019 and did not know how advanced her pregnancy was.
She had been searching the internet for ways of ending a late pregnancy and when Health Secretary Matt Hancock permitted abortion pills to be sent through the post in March 2020, at the start of lockdown, she obtained the mifepristone and misoprostol through the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.
Previously women seeking an abortion would be required to attend an in-person appointment in a clinic before taking the pills at home.
Foster wanted to abort her child because during lockdown she had moved back in with her “long-term but estranged partner” who was not the father of the child.
Her daughter Lily was born stillborn and Foster was prosecuted under section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which prohibits the administration of drugs or using instruments to procure abortion.
She pleaded guilty and before she was sentenced the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Midwives and other health bodies had urged the judge at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court not to send her to jail.
They argued that a custodial sentence would “deter other women from accessing telemedical abortion service” or being “open and honest with medical professionals”.
Justice Pepperall dismissed their pleas, the Daily Telegraph reported, saying their letter was “inappropriate” and that it was the role of Parliament to change laws, not judges.
The judge sentenced Foster to a 28-months imprisonment with 14 months in custody and the remainder on licence after her release.
The sentencing was condemned by BPAS and Amnesty International, and pro-abortion MPs urged further liberalisation and decriminalisation of the law.
The case came just days before the Catholic Church in England and Wales focused on abortion during its annual Day for Life.
The bishops say the message for the June 18 event is unique because it is the first time they have given over the annual Day for Life “to a Catholic woman who has had an abortion to share her experiences”.
The theme is “Listen to Her”, and “post-abortion trauma and the impact of abortion primarily on women, but also men and others” will be examined.
“Often the voices of women who have had an abortion are silent in Church and in society,” said an announcement by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
“The hope is that this will help break this silence and offer further opportunities for healing and reconciliation.”
The key message is from a woman who identifies herself only as “Jane” and who explains how she became pregnant at the age of 15 only to see her mental health decline.
She explained that she went on to receive support from Rachel’s Vineyard, a healing ministry in the English Midlands which provides support for those who suffer after abortions.
The Day for Life was established following the publication of Evangelium Vitae (the Gospel of Life), the 1995 encyclical of Pope St John Paul II. It is also celebrated by the Catholic Church in Ireland and Scotland.
In England and Wales, parishes are being encouraged to offer prayers for a culture of life, including a novena for life, and to contribute to pro-life charities.
Resources such as the testimonies of people who have endured post-abortion trauma are being made available and the Church will publicize the work of groups which help victims of abortion.
The “Listen to Her” initiative comes after the British Parliament approved the UK’s first “thought crime” by forbidding silent prayer in the vicinity of abortion clinics.
In March, the House of Commons voted for an amendment to the Public Order Bill to criminalize any form of “influence” outside of all abortion facilities.
It makes prayer within a censorship zone punishable by an initial fixed penalty fine of £100, possibly rising to £1,000 if the accused is taken to court.
A month earlier, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a Catholic pregnancy counsellor,was acquittedof charges in connection with silent prayer near a closed abortion facility in Birmingham where the city council has implemented a 150-metre buffer zone via a Public Spaces Protection Order.
Fr Sean Gough, a curate who had held up a sign reading “Praying for the Freedom of Speech”, was also cleared of wrong-doing.
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