'Shame on her midwife!': Women outraged after mum-of-three jailed for taking abortion pills after legal limit
13 June 2023, 16:42
Caller supports jailed mother: 'Shame on her midwife and shame on her GP'
These callers, who have had abortions, defend the jailed Carla Foster, as they argue that abortion services in the UK are "almost non-existent".
Mum-of-three Carla Foster pleaded guilty to section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, administering drugs or using instruments to procure abortion.
She had been sent abortion pills after lying to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) about how far along in her pregnancy she was.
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Nicola in Midhurst shared her experience with Tom Swarbrick: "I had a termination... and I had to go through a termination in excess of when I should be having it without an anaesthetic because none of the anaesthetists were working.
"I tried to access help multiple times throughout the NHS... the limited options that were available just got tinier and tinier and I felt absolutely desperate. I can't imagine how that poor must've felt to actually go and do that."
She defended Carla Foster, saying: "The fact that she's got that far down the line with three children already, shame on her midwife and shame on her GP because that poor lady needed help and she certainly doesn't need punishment."
Drawing from her own experience, Nicola said: "I knew that I needed a termination at 6 weeks, when I found out, i was 43-years-old, I had loads of kids already, I had absolutely no idea I was going to be pregnant - I needed to get that done and I couldn't.
"It took me nearly ten weeks to access help and then I had to go through it with no anaesthetic."
'Of course this woman had to do what she had to do!' says caller on illegal abortion
Gill in Chelmsford, who also had to undertake a termination during lockdown, told Tom: "When I called up the service through the NHS, I got told I had to wait four weeks to have a phone call appointment.
"For somebody going through that situation, who's had to make that decision, you know that you want to get that over and done with as soon as possible."
"To have to wait four weeks for a phone call to discuss having a termination, of course, this woman had to do what she had to do," she exclaimed.
Gill continued: "What I had to go through mentally to make that decision was hard enough, to then be told that you have to wait four weeks to have a conversation about being able to do it and then having to wait for the next process is appalling.
"The service that was available then for people going through this situation was almost non-existent."
READ MORE: Vermont protects access to medical abortions
