The mother who was sent to prison for using abortion tablets to end a pregnancy over lockdown will be released, after the Court of Appeal reduced her sentence.
In a move condemned by campaigners and MPs as needlessly cruel, Carla Foster, who is a mother of three, was handed a 28 month custodial term after she admitted to obtaining the tablets and ending a pregnancy beyond the legal limit in which to do so.
What has the Court of Appeal said?
Last month, a judge informed the 45-year-old that she would serve half of the sentence in jail and the rest on licence. Now, the Court of Appeal has changed this to 14 months suspended, meaning that Foster can now go home and be with her children.
Dame Victoria Sharp, one of three judges who reduced the sentence, said: ‘This is a very sad case. It is a case that calls for compassion, not punishment, and where no useful purpose is served by detaining Ms Foster in custody.’
The Court of Appeal also heard that Foster had not been allowed any form of communication with her children, one of whom is autistic, during the 35 days so far of her jail term.
Campaigners call for changes to ‘outdated’ abortion law
The law under which Foster was jailed is said by many to be cruel and outdated. A campaign from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and supported by over 30 women’s right’s organisations, including the Royal College of Obstetrician and Gynaecologists and The Royal College of Midwives, is seeking reform of the Abortion Act 1967, in order to decriminalise women who seek to end their own pregnancies.
Of the move, MP Stella Creasy tweeted: ‘The relief that this woman can go home to be with her children is tempered by the knowledge there are more cases to come where women in England being prosecuted and investigated for having abortions under this archaic legislation. That’s why we need decrim now.’
Via Twitter, BPAS said: ‘A mother who was sentenced to 28 months for illegally ending their pregnancy is to be released from prison. We echo the judges’ statements that this is a case that calls for compassion, not punishment, and are delighted with this decision.’
‘The court of appeal has today recognise that this cruel, antiquated law does not reflect the values of society today. Now is the time to reform abortion law so that no more women are unjustly criminalised for taking desperate actions at a desperate time in their lives.’
The organisation called for rapid change to the laws which led to Foster’s prosecution and directed people to support their Time to Act campaign, which seeks to reform the UK’s current abortion laws.
‘Two women accused of illegally ending their own pregnancies are currently awaiting trial. We urge parliament to take action and decriminalise abortion as a matter of urgency so that no more women have to endure the threat of prosecution and imprisonment.’
Foster, who is from Staffordshire, was initially jailed on 12 June. During a Covid-era lockdown she procured abortion pills from BPAS after leading staff to believe that she was seven weeks pregnant, when she was actually between 32 and 34 weeks.
Using the pills to induce an abortion is legal up to 10 weeks. After this stage and at up to 24 weeks abortion is legal, although the procedure must then be carried out in a clinic, rather than at home.
