Lords urged to ensure women criminalised for abortion are ‘not left behind’ | Abortion

Women arrested, investigated and convicted under abortion legislation in England and Wales “should not be left behind” if the law is changed to prevent women being criminalized in the future, campaigners have said.

Last summer the House of Commons voted to end the criminalization of women who terminate their pregnancies outside the legal framework through a new clause in the crime and policing bill.

The House of Lords will consider a series of changes to the legislation on Wednesday, including two that would end active police investigations into suspected illegal abortions and pardon women who have already been criminalised.

“When I hear about how the system treats these women and girls when they are most vulnerable and how they may have to explain it every time [disclosure and barring service] Liberal Democrat colleague Elizabeth Barker, who put forward one of the amendments, said: “It was clear that if control was restored, this tyranny had to be stopped.”

“Although there are far fewer people convicted, this conviction carries a life sentence; it prevents them from getting a job and they will even have to disclose that they have a criminal record for life, even when renewing their car insurance every year.”

Becca was 19 and working as a paramedic in a hospital in the north of England when she discovered she was pregnant. There were no signs of pregnancy in the previous months. She was still wearing her normal dress size and had even been spotted by the sea the weekend before in a crop top. So Becca assumed she had just gotten pregnant.

Deciding that she wanted the abortion to end, she went to a clinic and met with a doctor who gave her abortion pills. But when she didn’t experience the bleeding she had been warned to expect, she called NHS 111, who advised her to go to A&E.

“I told them the 100 percent truth about what was going on, what I did, and how long I thought I was gone,” he said.

Finally, Becca was scanned. “And I remember seeing my partner’s face fall and the faces of all the nurses around me fall,” she said. “’Oh my God, what happened?’ I said. and the sonographer said: ‘I’m really sorry you’re six months pregnant.’

“It was a huge, huge, huge shock,” he said. Within an hour, she had given birth to her son, Harry.

Becca’s mother Anne said: “She was still living at home and there was honestly no way to tell. [she was pregnant]. He looked absolutely normal. So there was no indication that he was further along than he thought.”

Because Harry was born at 28 weeks, he was transferred to a hospital better equipped to care for premature babies, and later as he got stronger, he was transferred to a third hospital. “And it was the hospital that called the police on us,” Becca said.

A few weeks after Harry’s birth, Becca was home. Her pregnancy had been such a surprise that she had never had a baby shower or gender reveal, so her mother and aunt had gone out to buy decorations. A day later, the police knocked on his door.

“We sat down and at that point they told me I was under arrest for attempting to harm children. I didn’t even know what that meant,” he said.

“They were saying they were going to do me a favor by not getting in a marked police car, not handcuffing me, and not wearing a uniform. And I remember thinking, ‘I don’t care what you’re doing, you’re arresting me, I don’t care how nice you are about it.'”

During questioning, police asked Becca if she might have stolen the drugs from her workplace or if her boyfriend had extorted her. “And it was just like this: ‘What are you talking about? I told the truth from the moment I called 111 and asked for help,'” he said.

Becca was arrested at her home, while her partner was arrested a few miles away at the hospital where he was visiting their son. His electronic devices were seized by the police.

Social services then told them they were not allowed unsupervised contact with their son. This situation continued for several months and it was not until 15 months later that the police investigation was terminated.

But the arrest still has decades-long implications for Becca, now 21. Abortion crimes are classified as violent crimes, so even if there is no conviction, the fact of an arrest can still be disclosed in a report. disclosure and blocking service control.

If Becca were to look for a new job, she said: “You don’t want to have to explain a traumatic event like this to a random stranger who ends up being your boss.”

If the law were changed to allow arrest records to be expunged, “I think it would almost be like getting rid of it. We could live a normal life because it has an impact on job applications and future plans.”

The mother said: “She’s considering training to be a nurse or a midwife and all of that, so it’s possible now, but it’s going to be a bit weird because she’s going to have to announce it. If that doesn’t happen she can just keep making plans like any 21-year-old.”

“This would be such a relief for everyone,” Becca said, “to take the weight off everyone’s shoulders and maybe be the final step in putting it behind us.”

Nikki Packer, who was cleared of having an illegal abortion last year, stated that she often thinks about her experiences and said, “The police investigation and the trial were by far the worst part. The time women spend under investigation ruins lives.”

“That is why the censure vote in the House of Lords needs to pass on March 18 and the police need to step back and show some accountability.”

“The lasting effects on myself and other women investigated are not something I can easily ‘get over’,” Packer added. “The current law is very old, it is time to reflect modern society.”

President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Dr. Alison Wright said the college was urging her colleagues to follow Commons 208 and support “ensuring women no longer face the risk of investigation or prosecution in decisions about their own healthcare”.

“Addressing the harm that exists is also vital. That’s why we’re calling on our colleagues to support the 426B amendment, which would pardon women previously prosecuted under outdated and unfair abortion laws. Women facing prosecution or conviction should not have to continue living with the consequences of this outdated legislation.”

Heidi Stewart, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said:

“Pardoning these women and erasing their investigation records will, first of all, acknowledge the profound injustice of criminalizing abortion. If the law is to finally be brought into line with modern values, the women harmed by this law must not be left behind.”