Carla Foster spent last night in a prison cell. In 2020, after having obtained abortion pills under false pretences, the 44-year-old mother of three terminated her pregnancy at between 32 and 34 weeks gestation. This week, she was found guilty under section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 for administering drugs or using instruments to procure abortion. She has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Foster’s imprisonment has sparked shock and anger among commentators, campaigners and politicians.
‘There is a mechanism the government can use to show mercy to women convicted today for having an abortion – it’s a royal prerogative and was last used in 2020,’ tweeted Labour’s Stella Creasy. I share Creasy’s hope that ministers act quickly to have Foster freed. It is difficult to see how her incarceration does anything other than make an already horrible situation even worse.
Foster’s imprisonment is an inhumane response to a tragic set of circumstances
We cannot know what was going through Foster’s mind when she sought to end her pregnancy.
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