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?

Hmm, it was killed. Do you really think it wouldn't have felt anything?

What, even after so many weeks when the baby could have been viably born?

@ShippingNews hmm, you see I don't know!

How do those pills work? I thought abortion pills stop the heartbeat then induce labour

Not something I've ever looked into hence me saying I HOPED the little one felt no pain!

Like other posters I am pro-choice but this was not an abortion. It was an almost full-term baby. Such abuse of the system deserves a custodial sentence.

They're designed for much less developed babies though. Under 10 weeks gestation I think.

If someone did this in some North American states they'd be looking at a life sentence.

@stbrandonsboat Thankyou. I've no idea. If it wasn't painless then I'm even more convinced prison is the correct place for this woman

Chris watts got a life sentence for his unborn child which he murdered, as well as for his 2 daughters and wife.

I'm trying not to think about the actual process and what would have been felt. It's certainly a very sobering thing to consider and the reason why things have to be done properly and not done in a DIY way. I think the CPS were justified. I think even pro choice people would have to agree that individuals can't go around doing things like this.

I read somewhere that she knew she was pregnant much earlier and she could have easily had an abortion legally. She chose not to. If that is correct, then prison is the right place for her.

I think the right decision was made, this isn't straight forward but she knew what she was doing and lied using an emergency system in place for the pandemic

That’s what’s so upsetting :(

I’m glad more posters on this thread agree. Some on the others seemed to think it was completely her right. I wonder what they think about child abuse cases of newborns…

The other thread was batshit

Unfortunately some women seem to think that "feminism" means women should have absolute rights and privileges, but no responsibilities.
It's regressive.

She denied "child destruction" which was the original charge. She pleaded guilty to section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, administering drugs or using instruments to procure abortion, which was accepted by the prosecution.

This, I actually felt sick reading how disparaging some posters were being towards the baby.
I'm also thinking of her husband and the paramedics who didn't know what she'd done, and tried to save the baby.
That'll likely be trauma that stays with them despite now knowing she'd calculated the killing.

While it isn't something I think I could do, the mental state of this woman has to be taken into consideration. She has children, 3 of them. So she knows what it all entails and still something made her feel like this was her only way out!

What concerns me more is the possibility that this case is going to be used as ammunition for parliament to introduce the same legislation as the US when it comes to abortion laws. We aren't protected by EU legislation anymore so this is a real possibility.

I realise this makes it sound as though I condone this action. I absolutely do not, and I do agree with other posters that the word abortion should be used lightly here. What I meant to say but didn't say well enough is that I believe she couldn't have been in her right mind. If she already had 3 children I can't believe someone would then so willingly do this to another child.

Eh, you do realise that our abortion laws are far more relaxed than most (if not all) EU countries.

The laws this woman was prosecuted under have been around for a very very long time, and she's not the first woman who has been prosecuted. For 'social/any' grounds (ie not to save life/disabled baby) france is 16w, Germany is 12w, greece 12w, Italy 90 days, netherlands 24w, Spain 14w, sweden 18w etc.

We are one of the outlets, and could have restricted abortions any time we wanted.

We aren't the US.

This. She was cold and calculating to the very end. She deserves prison. Newspapers report that there were two possible fathers and she didn’t know who the father was. She knew she was pregnant for several months and didn’t do anything. She should have got longer.

She murdered her baby, she belongs in prison.

I think it was right to prosecute - she knew she was alot more than ten weeks. However, I don’t think a prison sentence in this case would serve any purpose. Suspended sentence?

Surely this crosses the line from abortion to plain murder? Did she give birth then kill the baby because it would have survived independently at that age or did the drugs she took kill it pre birth? How horrific either way.

I was born at 35 weeks. This is manslaughter at least surely