Around 100 girls and women have been investigated for ‘illegal abortions’ since Covid amid spike in police requests for medical records since at-home terminations legalised

Around 100 women and girls have been investigated on suspicion of having illegal abortions since at-home medical terminations were legalised during the pandemic, it has emerged. 

Home abortions were approved at the end of March 2020 by then Health Secretary Matt Hancock when Covid lockdown restricted access to termination services. 

The new rules allowed women within the first ten weeks of pregnancy to take the first pill at home following a face-to-face or teleconsultation with a clinician.

Healthcare providers are now claiming they have seen a ‘sharp increase’ in requests by police to share medical records and other personal data of women who have sought help with abortions or stillbirths, The Times reported. No charges were brought in the majority of cases.

Abortion is still a criminal offence in England and Wales unless it meets strict criteria. Anyone who undergoes the procedure without the permission of two doctors could be prosecuted and receive a life sentence. 

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service claims it was asked to provide police with personal data of patients after human placenta was discovered in a woodland in Southampton last summer. Police are pictured at the path leading to Holly Brook off Dale Road after the afterbirth was discovered

Women’s rights campaigners are pictured in Westminster, London in June this year after taking part in a march from the Royal Courts of Justice calling for decriminalisation of abortion. Abortion is still a criminal offence in England and Wales unless it meets strict criteria. Anyone who undergoes the procedure without the permission of two doctors could be prosecuted and receive a life sentence

Home Office data shows there have been 30 police probes into procuring an illegal abortion since April 2020, but experts warn the figure is ‘patchy’ and ‘does not reflect the true picture’ as police forces only record investigations once they are finalised.

Dr Jonathan Lord, co-chairman of the British Society of Abortion Care Providers (BSACP), told the newspaper he was aware of at least 100 cases of women being investigated by police for abortion since 2020.

Since 2020, the BSACP has reported having 27 requests from police for personal information of women accused of pregnancy-related offences.

MSI Reproductive Choices UK has also been asked for medical records on 18 occasions since 2021, with 10 of the request having come in the past year.

Last summer, in what Clare Murphy, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), has branded a ‘chilling’ request, the charity was asked to provide police with personal data of patients after human placenta was discovered in a woodland in Southampton.

Ms Murphy said the force requested names and contact details for any woman who had enquired about an abortion and then disengaged, as well as patients who had been scanned over the 24-week legal limit.

She told The Times that police had ‘no concept of the degree to which they would be breaching women’s confidentiality’. 

She has warned that restricting and criminalising abortion is detrimental to all pregnant women, including those suffering miscarriages, not just women seeking abortions.

‘It creates a huge shadow of fear both for women and the healthcare professionals trying to support them,’ Ms Murphy said. ‘You effectively throw all women who experience unexplained pregnancy loss potentially under suspicion.’

Abortion providers do not disclose medical records to police unless they are compelled by court order or required to do so to protect the patient, such as in situations of domestic violence. 

Dr Lord has warned that women the number of women being ‘entrapped and investigated following a pregnancy loss’ is on the rise.

A spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has also revealed that there is no standardised policy to investigate illegal abortions, as highlighted by how vastly differently the probes have been carried out.

Around 100 women and girls have been investigated on suspicion of having illegal abortions since at-home medical terminations were legalised during the pandemic. Home abortions were approved at the end of March 2020 by then Health Secretary Matt Hancock when Covid lockdown restricted access to termination services. The new rules allowed women within the first ten weeks of pregnancy to take the first pill at home following a face-to-face or teleconsultation with a clinician (file photo of a patient preparing to take the first of two combination pills, mifepristone, for a medication abortion)

In June this year a 44-year-old woman was sentenced to 28 months in prison for taking an abortion pill past the 24-week limit. She reportedly obtained the drug during a teleconsultation and had an at-home stillbirth in May 2020. Her sentence was halved to 14 months by an appeal judge in July. 

Another case saw a 15-year-old girl investigated by police in 2020 as she studied for her GCSEs. The probe, which saw her phone and laptop seized despite her not having been charged, was launched after she had a stillbirth at 28 weeks. Following a year-long investigation, a coroner ruled her pregnancy had ended by natural causes.

About 18 months ago, a teenager phoned an ambulance after giving birth prematurely. Seven officers reportedly searched her home and rubbish pins while she performed mouth-to-mouth on her child, who was still attached to her placenta by umbilical cord. Both the mother and baby survived, but the Times alleged the woman received ‘no assistance’ from police.

The NPCC has said that ‘unexpected pregnancy loss’ is not ‘routinely’ investigated as ‘potential illegal abortion.’

‘An investigation would only be initiated where there is credible information to suggest criminal activity and this would often be as a result of concerns raised from medical professionals,’ a spokesperson told The Times.

‘It would be at the discretion of the senior investigating officer leading the case to determine which reasonable lines of inquiry to follow, which may include toxicology or digital data.’

MailOnline has approached the council for comment. 

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