Call to overhaul ‘out of date’ UK abortion laws after woman jailed
The Guardian says Abortion legislation is “very much out of date” and should be overhauled, the chair of the Commons women and equalities committee has said, after a woman was jailed for procuring drugs to induce an abortion after the legal limit.
There was outrage on Monday after the woman, a mother of three, was sentenced to more than two years in prison.
She received the medication under the “pills by post” scheme, which was introduced during the Covid pandemic for unwanted pregnancies up to 10 weeks, after a remote consultation.
The woman, 44, pleaded guilty in March under the Offences Against the Person Act, legislation that dates back to 1861, and will serve half of her 28-month sentence in custody and the remaining under licence. She had originally pleaded not guilty to a charge of an offence of child destruction.