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

Women who have been arrested, investigated and convicted under abortion law in England and Wales “must 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 pregnancies outside the legal framework, thanks to a new clause in the Crime and Policing Bill.

The House of Lords will consider its own set of amendments to the legislation on Wednesday, including two that would end active police investigations into alleged illegal abortions and pardon women who have already been criminalized.

“When I heard how the system treated these women and girls when they were most vulnerable, and how they may have to explain themselves every time their [disclosure and barring service] The check is renewed, it was clear that this cruelty had to stop,” said Liberal Democrat peer Elizabeth Barker, who proposed one of the amendments.

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

Becca was 19 and working as a healthcare assistant in a hospital in the north of England when she realized she was pregnant. She had shown no signs of pregnancy in the previous months. She was still wearing her usual dress size and had even been to the seaside in a crop top the weekend before. As such, Becca assumed she had just conceived.

Deciding she wanted an abortion, she went to a clinic and saw a doctor who gave her abortion pills. But when she didn’t feel the bleeding she had been warned about, she called NHS 111, who advised her to go to the emergency room.

“I told them 100 percent the truth about what was happening, what I had done and how long I thought I was,” she said.

Eventually, Becca was taken for a scan. “And I remember seeing my partner’s face drop and all the nurses around me face drop,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, what happened?’ and the sonographer said, “I’m so sorry you’re six months pregnant.”

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

Becca’s mother Anne said: “She was still living at home and honestly there was no way of knowing if [she was pregnant]. She looked completely normal. So there was nothing to indicate that she was further along than she thought.

As Harry was born at 28 weeks, he was transferred to a hospital better equipped to care for premature babies, and then, as he grew stronger, he was transferred to a third hospital. “And it was the hospital that ended up calling the police on us,” Becca said.

A few weeks after Harry was born, Becca was home. Since her pregnancy had been such a surprise, she never had a baby shower or gender reveal, so her mother and aunt had gone out and bought decorations to put up. A day later, the police knocked on his door.

“We sat down and that’s 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 they would be doing me a favor by not coming in a marked police car and handcuffing me and not wearing a uniform. And I just remember thinking, ‘I don’t care what you do, you arrest me, I don’t care how nice you are about this.'”

During questioning, police asked Becca if she had perhaps stolen the drugs from her workplace or if her boyfriend had forced her to take them. “And it was like, ‘What are you talking about? I told the truth from the moment I called 111 and asked for help,'” she said.

While Becca was arrested at her home, her partner was arrested several miles away at the hospital where he was visiting their son. Their electronic devices were confiscated by the police.

Social services then told them they were not allowed any unsupervised contact with their son. This lasted several months and it was only 15 months later that the police investigation was abandoned.

However, the arrest still has implications for Becca, now 21, that will last for decades. Abortion offenses are classified as violent crimes, so even without a conviction, the fact of an arrest can still be disclosed upon disclosure and unless subject to departmental review.

If Becca was looking for a new job, she would say, “You wouldn’t want to have to recount such a traumatic event to a random stranger who will be your boss.” »

If the law were changed so that his arrest records could be expunged, “I think it would almost be like a liberation. We might just be able to live a normal life, because it impacts job applications and plans for the future.”

Anne said: “She’s thinking about training as a nurse or midwife and all 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 no longer possible she can carry on like any 21-year-old who’s making plans.”

“It would be such a relief for everyone,” Becca said, “such a weight off everyone’s shoulders and maybe the last step would be behind us.”

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

“That’s why the decriminal vote in the House of Lords must pass on March 18, and the police must step back and show some responsibility. »

“The lasting effects on myself and other women under investigation are not something I can simply ‘get over,’” Packer added. “The current law is old, it’s time it reflects modern society.”

Dr Alison Wright, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the college was calling on its peers to follow the House of Commons and support Term 208, “ensuring that women no longer face the risk of investigation or prosecution for decisions about their own healthcare”.

“It is also vital that the harm already done is repaired. That’s why we also urge our peers to support Amendment 426B, which would grant clemency to women previously prosecuted under outdated and unjust abortion laws. Women who have been investigated or convicted should not have to continue to live with the consequences of this archaic legislation.”

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

“Pardoning these women and expunging the investigation files would recognize the profound injustice of the criminalization of abortion. If we are to finally bring the law into line with modern values, the women who have been harmed by this legislation must not be left behind.”