Campaigners Call for Pardons for Women Criminalised Under Abortion Laws
Women who have been arrested, investigated, and convicted under abortion legislation in England and Wales must not be overlooked if the law is amended to prevent future criminalisation, campaigners have stated.
Last summer, the House of Commons voted to end the criminalisation of women who terminate pregnancies outside the legal framework by introducing a new clause in the crime and policing bill.
The House of Lords is set to consider its own amendments to the legislation on Wednesday, including two proposals aimed at halting active police investigations into suspected illegal abortions and pardoning women previously criminalised.
“When I heard how the system has treated these women and girls when they are at their most vulnerable, and how they may have to explain this every time their [disclosure and barring service] check gets renewed, it was clear this cruelty had to be stopped,”said the Liberal Democrat peer Elizabeth Barker, who has tabled one of the amendments.
“Although there are far fewer who have been convicted, that conviction is a life sentence – it prevents them getting jobs, and even when renewing their car insurance every year they’ll have to explain they have a lifelong criminal record.”
Becca was 19 and working as a healthcare assistant in a hospital in northern England when she discovered she was pregnant. Having experienced no pregnancy symptoms in previous months, and still fitting her usual dress size, she assumed she had only recently conceived.
She decided to have a termination and attended a clinic where a doctor provided abortion pills. However, when she did not experience the expected bleeding, she contacted NHS 111, who advised her to go to Accident & Emergency.
“I told them 100% the truth of what was going on, and what I had done, and how long I thought I was,”she said.
Following a scan, Becca recalled the reaction of her partner and medical staff.
“And I remember just seeing my partner’s face drop and all the nurses around me’s faces drop,”she said.
“I was like ‘Oh my God, what’s happened?’ and the sonographer said: ‘I’m really sorry you’re six months pregnant.’
“It was just such a humongous, big, big shock,”she added. Within an hour, she gave birth to her son Harry.
Becca’s mother, Anne, explained:
“She was still living at home and there was honestly no way you could tell [she was pregnant]. She looked absolutely normal. So there was no indication at all that she was further along than she thought she was.”
Harry was born at 28 weeks and was transferred to a hospital specialised in premature babies. As he improved, he was moved to a third hospital, which later contacted the police regarding Becca.
“And that is the hospital that ended up calling the police on us,”Becca said.
A few weeks after Harry’s birth, while Becca was at home, the police arrived.
“We sat down and that was when they told me I was under arrest for attempted child destruction. I didn’t even know what that meant,”she said.
“They were telling me that they would do me a favour by not coming in a marked police car and not putting me in handcuffs and not wearing uniform. And I just remember thinking: ‘I don’t care what you’re doing, you’re arresting me, I don’t care how nice you’re being about it.’”
During questioning, police asked if Becca had stolen the drugs from her workplace or if her boyfriend had coerced her into taking them.
“And it was just like: ‘What are you talking about? I’ve told the truth from the moment I called 111 and asked for help,’”she said.
While Becca was arrested at home, her partner was arrested separately at the hospital where he was visiting their son. Police confiscated their electronic devices.
Social services subsequently prohibited them from having unsupervised contact with Harry for several months. The police investigation was eventually dropped 15 months later.
Despite the investigation’s closure, the arrest continues to affect Becca, now 21. Abortion offences are classified as violent crimes, so even without conviction, an arrest can be disclosed on background checks.
If Becca were to seek new employment, she said: “You don’t want to have to tell such a traumatic event to a random stranger who’s going to be your boss.”
She added that if her arrest records were expunged,
“I think it would just be almost like a release from it. We could just be able to live a normal life, because it’s having an impact on job applications and plans for the future.”
Anne commented:
“She’s thinking of training to be a nurse or a midwife, and all of that, I mean it’s possible now, but it’s going to be awkward because she’s going to have to declare it. If that’s gone, she can just carry on just like any 21-year-old making plans.”
“It would just be such a relief for everyone,”Becca said,
“such a weight off everyone’s shoulders and maybe the last step in it being behind us.”
Nikki Packer, who was cleared of illegally terminating a pregnancy in May last year, said she often reflected on her experience.
“The police investigation and the trial were by far the worst part. The time women are spending under investigation is ruining lives.
“This is why the decrim vote in the Lords must pass on 18 March, and the police must step back and show some accountability.”
“The lasting effects on myself and other women placed under investigation aren’t something I can simply ‘get over’,”Packer added.
“The current law is ancient, it’s time it reflects modern society.”
Dr Alison Wright, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, urged peers to support clause 208, which would ensure women are no longer at risk of investigation or prosecution for decisions about their own healthcare.
She emphasised the importance of addressing harm already caused, advocating for amendment 426B, which would pardon women previously prosecuted under outdated abortion laws.
“Women who have faced investigation or conviction should not have to continue living with the consequences of this archaic legislation.”
Heidi Stewart, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, stated:
“Pardoning these women and expunging the records of investigations would recognise the profound injustice of criminalising abortion in the first place. If the law is to be finally brought into line with modern values, the women who have been harmed by this legislation must not be left behind.”
