AIBU to think throwing a mum-of-four in prison for having an abortion is never the answer?

[therescoffeeinthatnebula]

Spotted this on Twitter and haven't seen it already being discussed.

Apparently, a woman is being sentenced today for having an abortion over the limit during lockdown. I don't know of the circumstances (can't find anything other than the Sunday Times article), only that she already had four children and claims she didn't know exactly how far along she was.

I think most of us would agree making medical appointments during lockdown was bloody difficult and that it's even harder to attend any appointment if you have children, given you're not normally allowed to take them with you.

Whatever the truth, I'm appalled to see a woman potentially thrown in prison for trying to seek an abortion during lockdown, especially when you look at how violence against women is treated. I'd have thought referring her for mandatory counselling would be more of an appropriate outcome than prison because finding out you aborted what could have been a viable baby has got to mess with anyone's head.

It's all very sad - she should have been able to access proper services earlier - but prison, to me, should never have been on the table as a consequence.

I didn't actually realise that abortion in this country was blanket illegal and that our rights to seek abortions up to the limit are actually exceptions to that law rather than a piece of legislation that stands on its own.

She would need leave to appeal, which is likely to be at best very difficult given that, as stated, the sentence is within sentencing guidelines.

She's been named online, with her photo too.

Really, was there any need for that?

Side note: the articles naming her seem to have been written by men. Funny, that...

As an NHS worker who worked frontline throughout the pandemic with crap PPE, I am ashamed of the behaviour of many of my colleagues.

The Covid fear made people lose reason and professionalism. Another thread I guess.

These are the indirect consequences we are seeing. I am sure we will never get the full data on it all.

"For all we know, she left a perfectly good man"

My judgement on whether he is a good man or not will be based on whether he has his OWN KIDS for the next 28 months or they go into the care system

@StrawberryWasp abortion in the uk is limited to 24 weeks so what would stop me having an abortion before then?

I'm sterilised and my DH had the snip so I am hoping that is enough to ensure we have no more children.

However limiting abortion more than it already is wouldn't go in the favour of anyone. Babies would absolutely suffer and they would be killed when born - look at countries with strict abortion laws in India they kill female infants straight away either by putting a cloth over their face and pouring water over it or burying them alive.

And obviously the risk to women having unsafe abortions. Women will always have a choice whether it's morally acceptable or not which is why we need safe and reasonable abortion laws.

Woman don't have that right beyond 24 weeks.

That’s gonna help her mental health isn’t it?!

She’s going to be vilified and trolled by pro-lifers

It could drive her to suicide

Ugh this case.

The man gets off Scot-free. As usual.

Can you imagine doing what this woman did. It’s horrendous. I would never do this. Neither would anyone on this thread I am sure. Either she was mentally unbalanced. Or she had low IQ. Or no support. In any case, I firmly believe prison is the wrong place for her. She acted wrongly. But prison??

If I was the parent of the victim I'd have damn well taken the Law in to my own hands.

And that’s the problem.

A corpse has more rights than a woman in pregnancy.

Read that again. A dead body, has more rights over a living breathing woman.

The article I read said that she knew how far along she was and had moved back in with her ex husband and this wasn't his baby so she had hidden it from him for the sake of the relationship. Jail is fine.

Why 28 months? The mother will be released after 14.

I dunno all sorts of things? A global pandemic? AI taking over the world? Not realsing youre preganant? Whatever stopped this woman?

Stuff happens, something could.

I'm not arguing to limit abortion I'm OK with the current law.

That’s shocking.

@Kiwano 14 then But i bet the nearest family members with vaginas will be called in to help.

My opposition to time limits is based on my belief that the woman should be able to withdraw life support up until full term. If abortion were decriminalised and had no time limits, do you think that the woman would have been in her home popping misoprostol? Or might she have been in hospital where the doctors could perform foetal euthanasia if she insisted on the unborn baby being dead before leaving her body? In hospital, where if she agreed to a pre-term live delivery, the baby could be rushed to NICU?

The situation of a woman having a very late abortion isn't palatable. I'm not claiming that it is. I'm not claiming that it's a morally-correct action either under most circumstances. I'm saying that there is no way in mind to criminalise late abortions without basically giving unborn babies more rights than anyone else and late-stage pregnant women fewer rights than corpses. And giving any woman fewer rights than a corpse sits far worse with me than late abortion does.

Don't confuse "it's icky" and "it's immoral" with "we should outlaw it". The Irish tried that and it killed Savita Happalanavar.

Huh? A corpse has greater rights than a woman with a right to life, liberty, education, etc etc?

She was 6 months pregnant before the pandemic and knew she was pregnant before the pandemic (she started researching how to abort in February). It’s not clear why she changed her mind on the pregnancy, but she did have access to abortion services at the right time.

Go on then, campaign for the limit to be raised, ask for a public debate and a referendum, see how it goes.

Yes woman after 24 weesk lose the right to abort a baby, because most people think the baby at this point also has rights.

People being assholes as usual. She doesn't deserve to be named. She doesn't deserve to be jailed. She deserves help.

And her address. Jeez. None of these male journalists have given any thought to how this will impact her children.

I don't see how anyone can possibly justify how they reported this.

The US there is a law that if you physically harm a pregnant woman and end up killing her baby it's called as a homicide/feticide.

This isn't the US.

Actual journalists or the Twitter mob?

She didn't have an abortion. She killed her baby using abortion drugs on a viable, nearing full term child. Completely different than having taken the abortion pills a week late.