Parliament should consider overhauling abortion rules as a priority after a woman was jailed for terminating her pregnancy at 32 to 34 weeks, senior female MPs said today, with campaigners demanding it is completely decriminalised because the threat is ‘archaic’ and ‘terrifying’ for women.
Caroline Nokes, the Conservative who chairs the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, has joined women’s rights groups in calling for reform to the 1861 legislation used to prosecute Carla Foster.
Tory MP Ms Nokes said: ‘I think that makes a case for Parliament to start looking at this issue in detail’.
Ms Foster, from the Staffordshire village of Barlaston, lied about how advanced her pregnancy was in order to obtain abortion-causing drugs. She was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant when she received the medication from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service under the ‘pills by post’ scheme, which pro-life campaigners believe is inhumane and should be banned.
The 44-year-old was given a 28-month…
