UK abortion laws: MPs seek change after woman jailed
The Times says MPs and campaigners have said UK abortion laws are “out of date” after a mother who used a pill-by-post scheme to induce an abortion after the legal limit was jailed.
The woman, who was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant when she took the pills, was jailed yesterday for 28 months and ordered to serve half her sentence in prison.
Her prosecution relied on a statute dating from 1861, with the judge rejecting pleas from campaigners for a non-custodial sentence saying it was his duty to “apply the law as provided by Parliament”.
