On 12th June 2023, in a rare and distressing case, a woman was sentenced for ending her own pregnancy outside the parameters of the Abortion Act 1967.
Today, the Court of Appeal has reduced her sentence to 14 months and ruled it should be suspended, meaning that she will be released from prison. The judge stated that her case “calls for compassion, not punishment.”
Responding to the news, Louise McCudden, UK Head of External Affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices, commented:
“The Court of Appeal was right to recognise that this distressing case should have been treated with compassion and not punishment.
It is not in the public interest to send someone to prison for ending their own pregnancy.”
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Interested to learn more? Read our explainer on why abortion should be decriminalised.
