It’s hard to imagine now, but for almost 1,000 years, pregnant women in England could avoid the death penalty just by virtue of being pregnant. A pregnant woman sentenced to death would receive a stay of execution until the baby was born. It was called “pleading the belly” and often resulted the death sentence being reduced to a less severe penalty once the pregnancy was over.
Of course, anyone could say they’re pregnant without actually being with child. So how did courts determine whether it was true?
