In one case in 2021, a 15-year-old girl who had an unexplained premature stillbirth was the subject of a year-long criminal investigation in which her text messages and search history were examined. Police dropped the case after the medical examiner concluded the pregnancy ended of natural causes. The teenager was investigated under the Offenses Against the Person Act 1861, which says it is illegal to cause a miscarriage using “poison”, “an instrument” or “other means” and those found guilty can be jailed for life. The 1967 Abortion Act transformed women’s healthcare by legalizing terminations in England, Wales and Scotland at up to 28 weeks, with the legal limit since reduced to 24 weeks. But abortions are legal only in cases where two doctors agree that continuing the pregnancy would be dangerous to the woman’s physical or mental health. The old law was never repealed, so anyone who performs an unscheduled abortion or attempts to terminate a pregnancy without medical supervision is acting illegally. Anyone helping them can also be prosecuted. Police have launched dozens of investigations into suspected breaches of the law over the past 10 years, according to an analysis of crime logs and Home Office data, into the alleged offences, including cases where women took abortion pills bought online and caused their own abortions by drinking herbal medicines without medical supervision. Campaigners and politicians say the legislation criminalises women over a healthcare issue and prevents some from seeking follow-up care for fear of repercussions. with the BMA saying the current “punitive approach” is hindering doctors’ ability to provide supportive care. Details of the criminal investigations were revealed in records obtained by the Observer under freedom of information laws. We contacted 44 police forces in England, Wales and Scotland to request records of recent illegal abortion procurement cases, including the number of offenses and how many of the investigations led to the arrest or charge of a suspect. In a case involving Surrey Police in 2016, a possible violation was registered after a woman reported taking abortion pills that were not provided by a medical professional. The force said such reports were rare and would be investigated on a case-by-case basis. In Norfolk, where three incidents were recorded between 2017 and 2020, police were called after a pregnant woman told her social worker she had started to clot after taking “loads of pills”. In another case in Norfolk, which, unlike many of the forces, provided detailed information, a woman was admitted to hospital after swallowing eight tablets of misoprostol – used with mifepristone to induce a medical abortion – which had not been taken by a doctor . She was thought to be 26 weeks pregnant, two weeks past the legal limit, according to the records. In these cases the women were not arrested or charged because prosecution was not considered to be in the public interest. But in other cases action has been taken, with women arrested and charged, and some investigations are still ongoing. In total, in the 10 years to April 2022, police in England and Wales have recorded 67 cases of illegal abortion. Police Scotland said they had no recent cases. In some of the cases, the suspects were men or third parties accused of forcing women to have abortions. Anti-abortion groups argue that the law is useful in bringing perpetrators to justice, but reproductive rights campaigners point out that forced abortion can be prosecuted under other laws, such as those relating to battery, GBH or poisoning, which also do not criminalize women. MSI Reproductive Choices, a charity and abortion provider, said it was aware of cases where the 1861 Act had been used to investigate women and girls who had lost their pregnancy to natural causes. In the case of the 15-year-old, police were called by hospital staff who believed the teenager had taken a substance she bought online to end her pregnancy. They knew that she had previously contacted an abortion provider to get information about a possible abortion termination and that she could not proceed because she was just past the legal limit of 24 weeks. The teenager’s phone and laptop were seized and examined for evidence of alleged wrongdoing, including text messages she had exchanged with her boyfriend expressing concern about the pregnancy. The case was dismissed after post-mortem examinations found the baby was likely stillborn due to natural causes, according to a report seen by the Observer. The findings follow the retreat of reproductive rights in the US after the supreme court overturned its 1973 decision in Roe v Wade, a landmark decision that guaranteed women’s constitutional right to abortion. The decision led to increased scrutiny of reproductive rights in Britain and demands for legislative changes to protect access to abortion. Labor MP Stella Creasy said action was needed to legally enshrine access to abortion as a human right and called for it to be included in Britain’s Bill of Rights, which is going through parliament. She said cases where women were suspected of causing a miscarriage would they should be treated as safeguarding issues in most cases, rather than criminal ones. “People will be shocked to learn that women are being investigated for miscarriage or abortion in England and Wales. This is not a sign of a civilized society,” he said. Dr Jonathan Lord, an NHS gynecologist and medical director at MSI Reproductive Choices, said the outbreaks were often a “fishing expedition” and raised concerns that Google searches and message history could be used as weapons against women. “We urgently need to follow the example of more enlightened societies, such as Canada, New Zealand and Australia, which have decriminalized abortion so that women are empowered to make their own decisions about their bodies and pregnancy loss can treated as a health care issue. care and compassion, not as a potential crime,” he said.
