Lawyers have won the right to challenge a decision to prosecute a mother in Northern Ireland who procured abortion pills online for her 15-year-old daughter.
In a groundbreaking case that is set to focus attention on Northern Ireland’s abortion legislation, a judge in Belfast gave permission for a judicial review to be heard over the prosecution of the mother, stating that the case raised “issues of considerable public importance and public debate”.
The family’s lawyers argued that compelling the child to go ahead with the pregnancy would have breached her human rights; and by extension the decision to prosecute her mother for helping her access medication also amounted to a breach of her human rights and those of her mother. Lord Justice Weatherup said the judicial review would look at whether there should be prosecutions in these circumstances.
The case came to the attention of police because a doctor at the clinic where the girl sought advice from her GP and received counselling after taking the pills reported her. The review will look at whether the decision by police to access her medical records without her permission was also a breach of her human rights.
The girl at the centre of the case is not being prosecuted (and has not been named), but her mother faces two charges of unlawfully procuring poison (the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol) with intent to procure a miscarriage, contrary to the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, and supplying that poison to her daughter. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Self-administered abortions using pills – often procured over the internet – have become the cheapest, most accessible solution for women in Northern Ireland. The 1967 Abortion Act was never extended to Northern Ireland, and abortion remains illegal in all but the most extreme circumstances. Northern Ireland has the harshest criminal penalty for abortion anywhere in Europe; in theory life imprisonment can be handed down to a woman undergoing an unlawful abortion.
The girl found out she was pregnant in the summer of 2013, after a relationship with a boy a year older than her and who she said was physically abusive. In written evidence submitted to the court, her lawyers said he threatened to kick the baby out of her, and to stab it if it was born.
According to statements submitted on behalf of the mother, the girl discussed her situation with her, and considered whether she should keep the baby, give it up for adoption or travel to England for an abortion. Her mother had heard that abortion pills were another option, and read about them on the British Pregnancy Advisory Service website, which indicated they were safe and widely used. She did not know it was illegal to use them in Northern Ireland. She obtained them by post through a website that helps supply the pills to women, particularly in countries where abortion is restricted.
After taking the pills, the girl was upset and was being harassed by her ex-boyfriend, according to the statements. Her mother was concerned about her emotional wellbeing and took her to the GP, where they spoke about taking the pills. A medical examination showed no ill-effects, and a referral was made for counselling.
Two months later a doctor at the medical centre (it is not clear from the court papers if it was the same doctor or another) told police that the girl had taken the pills. Neither the girl nor her mother were consulted about her private medical records being handed to the police, according to the court papers.
In a statement made to her lawyers, and submitted in the case for judicial review, the mother said: “I have been extremely distressed at the prospect of facing what I understand to be serious criminal charges because I accessed pills for my 15-year-old daughter in circumstances where she believed that she was pregnant and did not feel able to continue with her pregnancy.
“None of the people I spoke with about accessing pills told me that it was illegal and I did not believe that I was doing anything wrong. That is why I was totally open with the GP and all other professionals I dealt with. My primary concern throughout this has been to protect my child’s best interests. I don’t believe that [she] would have been able to cope with giving birth and rearing a child.” She added: “Had I been aware that there was any legal issue about the purchasing of the tablets I would probably have been more cautious.”
A statement from her daughter said: “I was only 15 years old and I was frightened by the prospect of being a mother. I was still a child myself and I was not sure that I would be able to cope. I was still at school and was in my first year of the GCSE cycle. I had always planned to do A-levels and I wanted to go to university. I knew that all of this would have been extremely difficult as a single mother.”
She said she was frightened the boy might continue to abuse her, or the child. “The idea of [my ex-boyfriend] being the father of my child and having him in my life in the long term made me physically ill.”
Lawyers for the mother and daughter will focus on the girl’s age and argue that “the blanket ban on abortion is particularly invidious when it comes to children who are unlikely to be able to access appropriate medical services without adult assistance.” The mother’s legal team is hoping to crowdfund the fees for the judicial review because she is not eligible for legal aid.
Earlier this month, in another prosecution involving the use of abortion pills in Northern Ireland, a woman accused of taking the tablets and her partner (who was accused of supplying a poison after getting the pills for her online) accepted cautions and charges against them were withdrawn.
Last year, a woman was prosecuted after her flatmates reported her to police for taking the same pills to terminate her pregnancy at home.
The abortion tablets are recommended as safe by the World Health Organisation for use in early pregnancy; in 2005 an estimated 26 million women worldwide used this drug combination to terminate pregnancies.
The mother’s lawyer, Karen Quinlivan QC, also highlighted the potentially chilling effect of the revelation that medical staff had reported the girl to the police. In Northern Ireland, medics theoretically face prosecution if they do not disclose an abortion to the police. She said the mother and daughter were “being punished because they didn’t tell a pack of lies to the doctors”.
“To pursue the prosecution in these circumstances will inevitably deter other women and girls, who for one reason or another take abortion pills obtained online, from obtaining medical assistance in the aftermath of having taken such pills, because of an entirely rational fear that this will be reported to the authorities,” she argued in the skeleton argument submitted to the judge. “This creates a real risk that women or girls who ought, to ensure access to the best medical care, make full disclosure of the fact that abortion pills have been taken, may not do so, with the potential adverse consequences to their health.”
Grainne Teggart, Northern Ireland campaign manager for Amnesty International, said: “We welcome the decision of the court to grant leave to challenge the decision to prosecute a mother for procuring abortion pills for her daughter – she is not a criminal, her daughter is not a criminal. Abortion is a healthcare and human rights issue and the law must stop treating Northern Ireland women who need abortions as criminals.
“It is wrong that the mother has been treated like a common criminal for attempting to help her daughter by sourcing medication, which is prescribed free on the NHS in every other part of the UK.”
A date for the judicial review hearing was set for May.
Woman who bought abortion pills for daughter can challenge prosecution
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