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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Mark Brown North of England correspondent

Teesside woman cleared over lockdown abortion charges after CPS offers no evidence

Bethany Cox outside Teesside crown court in August 2023
Bethany Cox in August 2023. The prosecution told Teesside crown court there was ‘no real prospect of conviction’. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Prosecutors have offered no evidence against a woman accused of using drugs to bring about an illegal abortion as the first UK coronavirus lockdown ended.

Bethany Cox, 22, was on Tuesday formally found not guilty of charges that had been brought under a Victorian law condemned as cruel and outdated by campaigners – the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act.

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