Three days ago, Carla Foster was sentenced to 28 months in prison for the crime of inducing her own abortion. The case is a complex one — Foster was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant when she took her anti-abortion pill — but the key fact is that current legislation in this country is not fit for purpose. It is primitive and punitive. That could be seen in the sentencing of a mother of three who obviously needed psychological support, not prison.
Calls from doctors and women’s rights organisations asking the judge not to imprison the woman fell on deaf ears. Today more and more women are waking up to the false sense of security we have had when it comes to our rights and access to an abortion in UK.
As an activist I have known for years that it was time for the UK to update its archaic abortion laws and provide women with the care and support they need, rather than punishing them for making difficult decisions. But having worked with MPs and ministers from both sides of the House I also knew how dangerous it was to open up the abortion debate. I thought maybe it was best to protect what we had.
I was so wrong. In not fighting anti-choice rhetoric and repressive policies we are turning back the clock on women’s rights and access to reproductive healthcare in this country. The writing was on the wall last year when I saw how hard we had to fight in order to keep the “pill by post” scheme introduced during the pandemic.
As I lobbied MPs and ministers to vote in favour of giving women the choice to be at home, I found last week how many of our MPs on both sides of the House were actually anti-choice.
I lost a lot of respect for people I once thought cared about women. MPs I had worked with to help end violence against women and girls were now telling me that they would not stand up to the misogyny that defined our culture on access to abortion.
We did in the end win the right for women to keep access to medical abortion at home, but the awful case this week is a wake-up call.
At the next general election we must demand our political parties be open about their views on abortion. We need to take to the streets about this — as many women are intending to do this weekend.
