Carla Foster being released

[JustMint]

Court of appeal have reduced her sentence!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-65581850

She killed a perfectly viable baby when all she had to do was wait a few more weeks and have it adopted. There’s no excuse for that. One of my DC’s was born at 35 weeks and we were only in hospital a few days. DC was healthy and fine. The idea that I could have changed my mind and killed them just before birth is disgusting.

I’m pro-choice but there are limits. This was a selfish, unnecessary act and while I’m ambivalent about the length of sentence she originally received because she has children who need her, I think she should have been punished for what she did.

That is what is supposed to happen, lots of support in a medical setting. Covid screwed pregnant women over. Even so, if one woman’s actions have changed your beliefs then no you probably weren’t.

You cannot just get a baby adopted in the UK.

It is a long process.

Agree.

Covid has and still is killing women’s health.

this is institutional abuse of the children and the woman concerned.
Absolutely appalling (as was the "care" of pregnant women during lockdown)

I'm really glad to hear this.

Good news, right decision.

So what's the answer, make it harder for women to legally get abortions?

It’s amazing how this always happens when a woman does something.

One woman does something incredibly rare in the midst of a global pandemic (and she reported herself in the end - she didn’t get caught) and suddenly shed loads of people are no longer pro choice, which opens the door to making it harder for all women.

Pity people aren’t so black and white with male crimes.

Custodial sentence was unnecessary.

a lot of posters are posting emotionally and completely forgetting how band the lockdowns were. (despite a couple of harrowing pp up there about how women were neglected during lockdown)

Added to the rest of this woman's background etc, it is absolutely right that she has been to court and convicted. It is inhumane to put her in prison with no contact with her children (instutionally misogynistic) which is no good for the children at all.

All in all it is a cautionary tale. And if anything it shows that abortion pills should be easier to get, not harder.

Exactly.

I'm glad this decision has been made.

Abortion should be decriminalised.

That 15 year old girl should not be in prison either.

That’s what happened during lockdown.

We could blame lockdown I suppose.
What about Brexit surely that must have played a part?
There must be a way to blame it on the tories.
Who was PM at that time?

You can blame something that only happened in lockdown on lockdown.

Why try pretend otherwise?

If I needed an abortion today the procedure is very different, and much easier to access, than it was during lockdown. That’s just simple fact.

This was the right decision, I believe firmly in a woman's right to choose, as early as possible as late as necessary.

I understand why people find it unpalatable with a late term baby who would be viable outside the womb but my feelings on this are that it is not always in the best interests of a foetus to be born, and I don't necessarily agree a foetus should be born into really shitty circumstances where the potential for lifelong trauma etc.. is high just because they are viable.

I also think the adoption comments are just plain stupid and ignorant, as if it's just that easy.

There is a legal definition which states this.

This.

I just can't fathom how you could take those pills after feeling the kicks and knowing that baby was alive.

Agree that it's hard to comprehend - she must have been in really dire straits mentally to have done such a thing, yet at appeal it was pointed out that there wasn't a proper assessment of her mental condition.

Also, does anyone know that the baby was 'perfectly viable' had she not taken the pills?

I can't think anyone believes this is a scenario to celebrate, but I also don't see how a custodial sentence would be in anyone's best interests. She still has a criminal record.

No but I think the 24 week limit is right. If a baby is viable outside the womb you shouldn’t be able to get rid of it because you’ve changed your mind which is what a real pro lifer would think - as early as possible, as late as necessary, as they say.

obviously if there’s a risk to the mothers physical health or the baby has a condition that is incompatible with life there can be exceptions

She started googling abortion pills in Feb 2020, well over a month before lockdown. She had plenty of time to access a safe, legal, early abortion. The only way you can blame lockdown is that it made easier for her to obtain the abortion pills illegally when she was 30+ weeks.

Posters need to remember, her conviction has not be quashed. She still is guilty. Its the sentencing that has changed.

The sentencing change is in the best interests of her children.

Why would you do that when none of those things had a bearing on the availability of services whereas lockdown did.

She knowingly killed a perfectly viable baby, causing it to suffocate in utero. She lied to others to be able to do it. She belongs in jail.

Completely agree with you.

Me too.

She was denied access or communication with her other children, whilst in prison? Why is this surprising? She killed their sibling.

I'm sure I read that she fell pregnant in late 2019 so would've been able to get a legal abortion early on in the pregnancy & before Covid/lockdowns.

It must've been a nightmare living with one man whilst pregnant with another's child.

That's also what the law says, so why does this case change anything?