Woman prosecuted for illegally aborting her baby at 34 weeks pregnant

[Endlessdark]

What are your thoughts of this? My heart breaks for the poor baby. There was so much time to do it earlier if she wanted to. ☹️ obviously don’t know her reasoning behind it so I’m interested to hear others thoughts! It’s said she claimed to only be 7 weeks pregnant and as it was during covid, she was sent abortion pills in the post.

https://apple.news/AEftuMVmFQ2quaiDb-lN78Q

what do you think, is it right that she was prosecuted or do you think there needs to be a reform of this law?

There's several threads on this already. Have a read of those?

I think that it isnt comfortable, but its her body and noone should be jailed for an abortion.

Definitely yes.

@IVFNewbie do you mean the prosecution was right or that you agree the law should be reformed?

I couldn’t see any other threads when I first looked, just found one now though. Sorry for the repeat!

Prosecution was right. Laws should be reformed also.

Can someone link to the other thread? I couldn’t find it either

@WarmWinterSun https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4826211-mum-sentenced-to-28-months-in-prison-for-abortion-pills

Thank you

She's in the right place

I wouldn’t use the term abortion, it was a nearly full term baby who would have lived outside her womb. There is a more appropriate word for what she did.

My heart breaks for the poor woman who had to go through such a late term abortion, whatever her reasons were it would not have been an easy thing to go through and now she is being taken away from her other children.

The law needs to be reformed, this woman isn't a danger to society and must have been in a desperate and difficult situation to take those pills so late in pregnancy. I don't understand how putting this woman in prison benefits society, it only hurts her and her existing children.

The first reports I saw on this I was unsure, but reading more I feel judgement is right. She knew she was pregnant and from Internet searching had been looking at how to end the pregnancy from the November so long before lockdown happened. Its the fact that something could have been done legally and without pain to the foetus but she choose not to, choosing instead a horrible, painful death for them.

It's not just her body though is it? That's a viable foetus. I am generally completely on board with women having bodily autonomy but aborting an actual child when you presumably need to go through labour to abort... just give it another couple of weeks and give it up for adoption if you don't want it.

It wasn't her husbands baby.

She's let her kids down badly here.... and one has SEN of some sort

Why not just have it adopted?

Well yeah. She would have needed to go through labour either way at that stage of pregnancy. I can't imagine killing a viable child rather than giving it a chance at life

Whilst I am pro-choice, I struggle a lot with this. There have been numerous cases where men have punched/stamped on a pregnant woman to abort a baby and in those cases have been given life sentences. This wasn't within the 24 week time frame, it was a viable 34 week old who was otherwise healthy and could have easily been born at this stage. She knew about it from much earlier but did nothing. Taking those pills killed her baby, there is no getting away from that. If she had gone into labour at 34 weeks and delivered a healthy baby then immediately suffocated her would that somehow be seen as worse? Either way, the baby would have survived if it weren't for her actions and I can't reconcile myself with that going unpunished. The level of googling and researching showed extensive time and planning, as well as the deception involved in lying to get the drugs in the first place. This is not a case of a woman who has some horrendous situation where for her own health, the baby's health, rape, etc has found herself in a desperately awful position and has got appropriate healthcare and gone about it in a way that was safe and humane for the baby. It is someone who has shagged someone other than her partner, got back with the partner and now doesn't want the baby incase it isn't his, lies about it, spends months researching ways to do it, then takes tablets knowing the outcome is that it will cause the death of an otherwise healthy, viable baby. I can't be ok with that.

Agree

I truly hope that little one didn't suffer or feel pain

Myself and my son were born at 34 weeks. She would have had to give birth either way. She could have had the baby adopted. I'm not sure if sentencing her is the way to go especially as she has other children. Perhaps a suspended sentence would have been a better way to go, and to deter others especially as her name and face are all over the media.

At 34 weeks I imagine it did

She would have got a suspended sentence if she had pleaded guilty

But she didn't

She lied

I fully agree. Totally inappropriate to call this an abortion. If she'd given birth at that time, and then suffocated the living baby, that would be murder. I see no difference.

I was born at lesser weeks than the child that died.
I am pro choice, but i do not feel this was pro choice. This was pure selfishness.
i think she should have gotten longer.
i only feel sorry for her children ( including the one that died).