June 17 () –
Thousands of people have demonstrated this Saturday in central London to protest the prosecution of Carla Foster, a 44-year-old woman who has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for miscarrying between the 32nd and 34th week.
“Freedom for Carla Foster!”, chanted those attending the march between the Royal Court of Justice and Whitehall between banners with slogans such as “Abortion is health care”, “One, two, three, safe, legal, free”, “What to do when our rights are attacked? Get up and fight back” or “The real crime is that there are police officers watching over our bodies.”
Labor MP Stella Creasy spoke: “This week shows us what some of us have so often and patiently tried to say to middle-aged men on Twitter. We don’t have the legal right to choose in England and Wales and this has very real consequences.”
“There have been 67 legal proceedings against women in the last ten years for crimes related to the Persons Law of 1861,” he recalled, a rule that is “no longer adequate.” “In particular, sections 58 and 59 no longer serve their purpose,” she said.
“It is evident that they are difficult cases. Nobody doubts it, but we ask for a starting point to compare because now we have a mother of three children in prison, one of them with special educational needs,” he noted. “Who benefits from continuing to punish this woman?”, she has raised her.
The Persons Law was amended in 1967 to decriminalize abortion up to 28 weeks. In 1991 the term was lowered to 24 weeks. In addition, cases such as danger to the life of the mother or baby or a serious disability of the fetus are included.
With the pandemic, abortion pills were sent by mail to abort in the first ten weeks and thus avoid going to the clinics. The standard became final in August 2020.
