A British woman was detained by police for 36 hours after giving birth on suspicion that she had an abortion after the legal limit, it has been reported.
The British abortion provider, who backed the woman, denied she had missed a legal deadline and warned that the treatment she was suffering “should be unthinkable in a civilized society”, without a “possible” public interest to keep it.
They added that the woman had been under investigation for a year and a half, but had not been charged with any crime.
Jonathan Lord, medical director of MSI Reproductive Choices, one of the UK’s leading abortion providers, said: Independent that the woman suddenly gave birth to a stillborn fetus at home that was about 24 weeks old.
The woman, who was in her early 40s when she died last year after contacting MSI Reproductive Choices about unwanted pregnancies and abortions.
Dr. Lord, co-chair of the British Society of Abortion Providers, who shared the woman’s story with Independent, commented, “She was shocked when she gave birth because she had no idea how far along she was in her pregnancy. hospitalized”.
“Because her health care colleagues were suspicious and knew she had contacted us, the abortion provider, as she told them, they suspected she had an illegal abortion and called the police. But she didn’t cross the line for a legal abortion.”
“The police arrested him at the hospital. He spent the night in hospital and was then released the next morning straight into police custody. It took them 36 hours to process it.”
Dr Lord said the experience of having an “unbelievably unexpected” stillbirth before being detained by police during the lockdown was “traumatic” and “sad” for the woman who cannot be named to protect patient confidentiality.
Abortions can be legally performed within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy in England, Scotland and Wales.
Dr Lord, consultant gynecologist at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, reports that the patient has been diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) while the police investigation is still active.
“He still has PTSD,” he added. “Not because they gave birth, but because they were labeled a criminal and detained. He knew he was being investigated, but he didn’t know why. The police confiscated his cellphone and laptop.”
Protesters outside the Supreme Court after the repeal of Roe v. Cross
(AP)
Lord, who contributed to the development of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence committee on quality standards and guidelines for abortion care, added that he had access to birth weight and measurements of stillbirths and believed it was less than 24 weeks.
He also cited a detained teenage girl who police investigated after giving birth to a stillborn baby at 28 weeks’ gestation last year.
This happened after a request for freedom of information was obtained through National World revealed last week that at least 17 women had been investigated by police in England and Wales in the past eight years for having illegal abortions or trying to terminate pregnancies.
Dr Lord added: “It is in no public interest that these women experience the tremendous stress and trauma of knowing they could face long prison sentences for having an unexpected miscarriage.”
This is because we have a law, created 67 years before women had the right to vote, that makes abortion (and thus the unexplained loss of a pregnancy) tantamount to murder.
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“At a time when they most need access to their friends, health professionals and advocates, they are isolated while their cellphones and computers are confiscated. Innocent Internet searches or messages with friends, such as ‘how can I have an abortion?’, can be used as evidence against you.”
“That a woman could spend 36 hours in a police cell recovering from an operation to miscarry, result in PTSD, or that a teenage girl could self-harm and have her confidentiality destroyed, should be unthinkable in a civilized society.”
Abortion is still considered a criminal offense in England, Scotland and Wales under the Abortion Act 1967. If a medical professional performs an abortion outside the law, they run the risk of facing criminal penalties.
A law passed in 1861 meant that any woman who terminated a pregnancy without obtaining the formal permission of two doctors, who had to agree that continuing it would be a risk to the woman’s physical or mental health, could face life imprisonment.
For years abortion providers, charities, medical bodies and lawmakers have called for abortion to be decriminalized in the UK. They want abortion laws to be separated from criminal law and controlled in the same way as any other medical practice.
Dr. Lord said: “This is because we have a law, created 67 years before women had the right to vote, that makes abortion (and therefore the unexplained loss of a pregnancy) tantamount to murder.” ,
“Staff wrongly assumed that they should report it to the police for investigation, even though violating confidentiality may be against their code of professional conduct. Police and prosecutors don’t seem willing to consider evidence of compassion or public interest.”
His comments came after the US Supreme Court was overthrown Roe vs. Cross, the landmark decision that legalized abortion across the country in 1973, on Friday. Millions of women in the US forfeit their legal right to terminate a pregnancy, and more than half of the country’s states are expected to ban abortion or severely restrict policies following the decision.
Dr. God warns that we must not “be complacent about the forces that lead to uprooting” Roe vs. Cross they are not here either” in England.
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) declined to comment on the matter.
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