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.

Pretty sure during lockdown getting an appt for sterilisation may have been a little bit tricky …

I only quoted them as a rebuttal to the 90+% US stats. It’s totally reasonable that over a reproductive life of 24+ years that a woman might need multiple abortions.

This, in bloody spades.

Absolutely this.

I completely agree.

I wasn't offered a sterilisation after my 4th so no reason to think this woman was

Exactly!!!!

You've got no understanding that some people might have mental health problems, learning difficulties, be victims of abuse etc have you? Must be nice living in your naive little world.

I think it makes much more sense to repeal the act criminalising abortion in the first place and make abortion outright legal.

We can then write legislation setting out the limited circumstances in which abortion should be considered a crime.

Rewriting the law this way would afford more rights and protections to both women and medical professionals.

How did this come to the attention of the CPS?

Exactly!!!!

(Quotes the wrong post before)

What happens to her children now? What if this has a massive impact on the course of their lives and their mental well-being? Any thought for them???

I just feel like when youve had your choice ripped away and been violated to that extent you feel helpless and worthless and that you have no rights and no voice. To me this is all about choice and that a woman should be able to choose no matter what way she is choosing.

It’s very sad for all involved.

Yeah, obviously you can be forced into sex and it's an all too common reality for women. Even before lockdown abused women have had less access to birth control and healthcare, lockdown just upped this to eleven.

There will be more women in these situations and I suspect these prosecutions will just erode trust in healthcare.

I really hate the phrase "throwing someone in jail". I hear it in virtually every discussion about sentencing for rape or domestic violence - some MRA comes along and says, "Just throwing the guy in jail won't help." It implies that people are just carelessly sentenced to prison on a whim. That's not what happens - there's a legal process that needs to be followed.

If she is found guilty will they remove her children ?

They won’t be fine if she’s in prison.

While I don't agree with what she did, I think it's abominable that she's facing 160 years in prison, taking her away from her existing four babies. It feels like she's being made an example of. This is so disproportionate compared to the sentences for the twats who drive recklessly on the pavement and kill babies in prams and are out in a year or two. Because they're men. Or the two lads who killed the Bulger boy and are now out. Why do they all get to live their lives and this poor woman who was probably absolutely desperate gets treated like this?

You can call it whatever you like - it's still taking a mother of four away from her four children in an act that does not help make our society any safer.

By analogy to murder, prison is very likely and the judge will start at 15 years, and work down from there. It looks very unlikely she will not go to prison for a long time.

I assume they will love with either their father or other relatives. Still without their mum.

@therescoffeeinthatnebula I think it makes much more sense to repeal the act criminalising abortion in the first place and make abortion outright legal.

We can then write legislation setting out the limited circumstances in which abortion should be considered a crime.

Rewriting the law this way would afford more rights and protections to both women and medical professionals

This sounds like a good idea. More clarity for everyone would be good.

@Bloopsie Let me be the first to congratulate you on not being raped, only having sex when you choose to, perfectly and accurately tracking your periods and never having an abortion.

I think if all women were like you then the world would be a wonderful place and all pregnancies would go full term and those babies would be wanted, not put into care or anything like that.

However sadly not all women are like you, they have mental health problems, learning difficulties, disabilities, they are abused and raped and some choose to have abortions.

I appreciate in your world that this is inconceivable and I'm sorry you had to learn about it this way but I hope it opens your mind to the possibility that not everything is as black and white as you deem it to be.

How do you know her other children are fine? Do you know what it does to a child to be separated from their mother? You don’t come across as particularly intelligent so I’ll take what you say with a pinch of salt.

It's not a child. It's a foetus.

Anyone who doesn't think charging this woman with anything is insane is a sick bastard, and can get in the bin and stay there.