A woman’s 28-month sentence has been reduced and suspended after she admitted taking pills over the legal limit.
A A British woman who was jailed for illegally obtaining abortion pills to end her pregnancy, has been released after a British appeals court reduced her sentence.
The 45-year-old mother-of-three was given a 28-month sentence last month after she admitted taking abortion pills to induce a miscarriage when she was 32 to 34 weeks pregnant in 2020.
The pills were sent to her by post during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown and are to be used during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
Abortions in Britain are legal before 24 weeks and must be carried out in a hospital after 10 weeks of pregnancy.
The prosecutor said the woman used her computer to research “how to hide a pregnancy tumor”, “how to get an abortion without going to a doctor” and “how to lose a baby at six months” online from February to May. 2020 and she lied to the pregnancy counselors, saying she was seven weeks pregnant so she could get the abortion pills.
After receiving the medicine and drinking it, she gave birth. The child was pronounced dead after 911 was called.
Thousands of demonstrators, women’s rights organisations, politicians and doctors called on the British government to change the abortion laws after the woman was arrested.
Clare Murphy, head of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said she was “shocked and appalled” by the decision and said the 19th-century law used against the woman and others was “the worst punishment in the world”.
The woman’s lawyer said she has been denied contact with her three children since she was incarcerated.
On Tuesday, three judges at the UK Court of Appeal reduced his sentence to 14 months in prison. This means that he will be released and will return to prison only if he violates all the conditions imposed by the court.
“This is a very sad case, not least because of the height of the breast when the offense was committed,” said Judge Victoria Sharp.
“This case calls for mercy, not punishment, and if detention serves no purpose.” [the woman] in prison,” he added.