Woman jailed for taking abortion pills after legal limit during lockdown
A woman has been jailed for carrying out a late abortion on her baby of 32-34 weeks.
The 44-year-old mother of three obtained pills from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) during lockdown, under laws introduced in the COVID pandemic.
They allowed women up to 10 weeks pregnant to have a phone consultation and receive abortion pills in the post to take at home.
The woman – who Sky News is not naming – lied to the service and claimed she was seven weeks pregnant.
After taking the pills, her 32-34 week foetus was stillborn.
The termination was eight to 10 weeks later than the 24-week legal period for having an abortion in England, Scotland and Wales.
The Crown Prosecution Service said the woman had carried out web searches including: “Can being hit in the stomach cause a miscarriage?”, “Where can I buy abortion pills in the UK?”, and “I need to have an abortion but I’m past 24 weeks”.
She took the two abortion pills on 11 May 2020 and paramedics came twice after she reported a miscarriage.
The woman initially lied and said she wasn’t pregnant, and then made a second call after her daughter was born.
Attempts to resuscitate the baby were unsuccessful.
That evening, the woman searched: “Could I go to jail for aborting my child at 30 weeks?”
Nightmares and flashbacks
Judge Mr Justice Pepperall – speaking at Stoke Crown Court – said the woman had made a tragic and unlawful decision to obtain a very late abortion.
He said she knew her pregnancy was beyond the legal limit of 24 weeks and there was planning in what she did, albeit quite chaotic.
However, he took into account that she had shown deep and genuine remorse and is racked by guilt.
“I accept you have a deep and emotional connection with your child and have nightmares and flashbacks to your dead child’s face,” he told her.
The judge also spoke about the difficultly of balancing the law with a woman’s rights to abortion. However, he said it was his duty to apply the law as it stands and that any change was a matter for parliament.
He said senior medical professionals had unusually written to him to request a suspended sentence given the nature of the case.
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Labour MP Stella Creasy: ‘Abortion is not a criminal matter, it’s a healthcare matter’
They said the telemedical service was a great advantage and that it had transformed care for some of the country’s most vulnerable women and girls who find it difficult to access in-person services.
They voiced concern that her imprisonment may deter other women from seeking support and health.
Call for ‘urgent reform’
The woman initially pleaded not guilty to child destruction, but later admitted an alternative charge of administering drugs or using instruments to procure abortion.
She was given a 28-month extended sentence and will serve 14 months in custody and the remainder on licence.
Following the sentence, Labour MP Stella Creasey called for urgent change.
“The average prison sentence for a violent offence in England is 18 months,” she tweeted.
“A woman who had an abortion without following correct procedures just got 28 months under an 1868 act – we need urgent reform to make safe access for all women in England, Scotland and Wales a human right.”
‘Horrifying case’
A spokesperson for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children called it a “horrifying case” that involved a “fully viable baby of eight months” and said the woman was fully aware she was breaking the law when she lied to get the drugs.
However, it criticised the availability of abortion drugs via post and added: “The real fault in this tragedy lies strongly with abortion providers who pushed for dangerous home abortions, and are now using this case to push for abortion up to birth.”
Model Penny Lancaster has said she “felt ashamed and belittled” by how former MasterChef host Gregg Wallace treated her on the TV show.
Lancaster, who is also a TV personality, and is married to singer Rod Stewart, told Sky News’ The UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee programme that she also felt let down by MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK.
“I didn’t feel like I was supported in that moment, I felt ashamed and belittled by the way Greg Wallace had treated me but equally I felt disappointed that the production company hadn’t come to my rescue,” Lancaster, 54 and a MasterChef contestant in 2021, said.
“There is a long way to go, but just by people coming forward and being honest about their experiences I think will help in the long term.”
At the end of July, Wallace, 60, apologised after a report commissioned by Banijay UK, and carried out by law firm Lewis Silkin, found 45 out of 83 allegations against him were substantiated.
Sir Rod Stewart criticised Wallace on Instagram in November 2024 and claimed he “humiliated” his wife when she was on the show.
He wrote: “Good riddance Wallace… You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that bit cut out didn’t you?
“You’re a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully.”
Gregg Wallace. Pic: PA
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Sky News has approached Wallace for comment.
He has previously apologised to people he has hurt, saying in July that he knows he has said things that have offended people. He has denied a specific allegation of unwanted touching.
The BBC referred Sky News to their statement from July, in which the corporation said: “Although the full extent of these issues were not known at the relevant time, opportunities were missed to address this behaviour – both by the production companies running MasterChef and the BBC. We accept more could and should have been done sooner.
“We want to thank all those who took part in the investigation, including those who first raised concerns directly with the BBC in November last year. We apologise to everyone who has been impacted by Mr Wallace’s behaviour.”
Penny Lancaster speaks to Sarah-Jane Mee
Banijay UK, the producers of MasterChef, told Sky News: “We are extremely sorry to anyone who has been impacted by any inappropriate behaviour by Gregg Wallace whilst working on our shows and felt unable to speak up at the time or that their complaint was not adequately addressed.
“Ways of reporting concerns whilst working on our productions, protocols around behaviour and training for both cast and crew, have improved exponentially in recent years and we constantly review welfare procedures across our productions to ensure that they are as robust as they can be.”
Sadiq Khan has hit back at politicians “spreading misinformation” about safety in London as new data shows the number of violent crimes leading to injury has fallen in every borough over the past year.
Figures from the mayor’s office for policing and crime compare the 12 months ending in August 2025 with the previous 12 months – and show there were 8,749 fewer crimes which resulted in someone being hurt, a drop of nearly 12%.
The borough of Havering in east London recorded the largest drop (16.3%) followed by Enfield in north London (16.1%).
The smallest decreases were in Greenwich (4.3%) and Kensington and Chelsea (4.6%).
Sir Sadiq said: “We’ve seen a number of politicians here and across the globe talking down London and spreading misinformation about crime and safety in the capital.
“The evidence is clear, our approach to tackling crime and its complex causes works. It’s driving down violence right across the capital.”
His comments come after Donald Trump reignited his feud with Sir Sadiq earlier this month by accusing him of doing a “terrible job” and claiming “crime in London is through the roof”.
The US president also hit out at the mayor in a speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, where he also made the outlandish claim that London “wants Sharia law” – something there is no evidence for.
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Trump attacks UN and London mayor
Asked about the attacks, Sir Sadiq said: “I think President Trump has shown he is racist, he is sexist, he is misogynistic, and he is Islamophobic.”
He added that the public would be “wondering what it is about this Muslim mayor who leads a liberal, multicultural, progressive, successful city that means I appear to be living rent-free inside Donald Trump’s head”.
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According to the mayor’s office, overall homicides in London are at a 10-year low, and the city’s rate is lower than in Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, Paris and all major US cities.
The rate of homicide was down by 17% in the 12-month period to June this year compared with the 12-month period to May 2016, it previously said.
Sir Sadiq speaks with a police officer during a walkabout in the West End earlier this year. File pic: PA
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Rachel Williams said: “We’re targeting the most dangerous individuals, disrupting criminal networks, and investing in prevention to protect those most at risk.
“That’s why fewer people are being hurt, fewer lives are being lost, and London is becoming a safer city.”
The Conservatives rejected the suggestion that London is safer.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp claims ‘London isn’t safer’
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Under this Labour mayor, criminals know the odds are stacked in their favour.
“Only one in 20 robberies is solved, fewer offenders are being jailed, and more than a thousand police officers have been cut from the Metropolitan Police, with Sir Mark Rowley warning of further losses this year.
“Londoners don’t feel safer because London isn’t safer.”
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