Women in England and Wales accused of carrying out illegal abortions have been taken into custody after losing a pregnancy, put their children into care and saddled with debts, an expert has said.
Dr. Jonathan Lord, co-chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ (RCOG) abortion taskforce, said he was aware of up to 30 “very traumatic” cases where women had been investigated by police, with some suffering “life-threatening” suffering. change damage”.
He said: “We have seen patients lose everything – their homes, their children, their relationships with their partners – purely as a result of the research.”
In some cases, women were prevented from returning to homes considered crime scenes and forced to hand in their phones and laptops for the “horrendous shutdown” of digital strip searches, he said.
In other cases, women feared for their lives after their cases were made public. “We are aware of cases where women have received death threats and panic alarms have had to be installed – bearing in mind this is after the most traumatic event of their lives,” Lord told the Guardian.
His warning comes after the RCOG issued new guidance on Monday saying doctors and other healthcare workers should not report suspected illegal abortions to police because prosecutions have never been in the public interest.
There are concerns about an increase in investigations and prosecutions of women who have sought or undergone abortions.
Lord said some women studied were later in their pregnancies than they realized when they had a termination. He said the most worrying cases involved women who had in fact suffered late natural miscarriages.
He said: “One of the common threads is that although no abortion drugs have been used and there is no suggestion that they have been used, the staff and police find that they have considered an abortion during that pregnancy and therefore feel that they could have caused the miscarriage. or premature delivery.”
By law, patient data may not be made public without their consent. Healthcare workers can only break rules by providing information to the police about possible crimes if this is considered to be in the public interest.
Lord said the guidelines aimed to make “crystal clear” that doctors and health professionals had a duty of confidentiality and that breaches could expose women and their families to “life-changing harm”.
He said: “Breaching confidentiality not only harms women but also brings the healthcare system into disrepute. There is a real danger that the most vulnerable patients will be too scared to submit to regulated healthcare, meaning we will never be able to protect and help them.”
He said some women suspected of illegal abortions had faced the “brutality” of arrests, investigations that could last up to four years, and had their children taken from them.
Lord said: “There are at least two women who have been in custody for more than 36 hours, and remember this is immediately after a traumatic pregnancy loss and perhaps subsequent surgery. That’s just absolutely awful. I am aware of some who have developed mental health problems and post-traumatic stress disorder, where there were previously no mental health problems, and are now taking medications such as antidepressants.
“One of the worst aspects is the impact on the children. We have had cases where children have been removed from the family and contact has been banned and restricted. And once that happens, even if the investigation turns up nothing, it is very difficult to get them back.”
Lord said police have seized suspects’ electronic devices and there are concerns that messages, internet searches and even data from menstruation apps could be used against them.
He said some patients had been saddled with life-changing debts, with one woman reported to police by NHS staff having to pay more than £30,000 in legal fees before her case reached court.
“They will never get their lives back on track,” he said. “To make matters worse, even if they are not arrested, even if they are not charged, if they are interviewed under caution for an alleged illegal abortion, they will be under increased DRB scrutiny for the rest of their lives. ”
Abortions in England, Scotland and Wales must be approved by two doctors and take place within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Otherwise, abortion is illegal and carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment under the 1861 Offenses Against the Person Act.
Since 2022, at least six women in Britain have been taken to court and dozens of women have been investigated for allegedly terminating their pregnancies outside the legal requirements for abortion. Between 1861 and November 2022, three women were convicted of illegal abortions in Britain.
Lord, an NHS gynecologist and medical director of MSI Reproductive Choices UK, a charity and abortion provider, said the law was “not fit for purpose” and needed to be reformed.
A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service said: “These exceptionally rare cases are complex and traumatic. We carefully take into account the personal circumstances of those who terminate their pregnancies outside the legal framework and handle this as carefully as possible. Our prosecutors have a duty to ensure that laws enacted by Parliament are properly considered and applied when making difficult charging decisions.”