On 12 June, Carla Foster, 44, was sentenced to 28 months’ imprisonment at Stoke on Trent crown court for aborting her unborn baby using abortion pills after the legal cut-off point of 24 weeks. Here are the remarks made by the judge, the Hon. Mr Justice Pepperall, during her sentencing:
- This case concerns one woman’s tragic and unlawful decision to obtain a very late abortion. The balance struck by the law between a woman’s reproductive rights and the rights of her unborn foetus is an emotive and often controversial issue. That is, however, a matter for parliament and not for the courts.
While an abortion is available in limited other circumstances, the principal rule under the Abortion Act 1967 is that a pregnancy can be lawfully terminated up to the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy. Early medical abortions, being abortions performed in the first ten weeks of pregnancy, usually involve the prescription of two drugs.
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