Bishop John Sherrington, an auxiliary in Westminster, has welcomed a ruling to release a 45-year-old mother of three from prison after she illegally ended her own pregnancy.
On June 12, Carla Foster was sentenced to more than two years in jail by Stroke-on-Trent Crown court for inducing an abortion after the legal 24-week limit. She admitted to having “administered drugs” to procure an abortion, which violates the law according to the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act.
During a telephone consultation, Foster had misled the British Pregnancy Advisory Service as to how advanced her pregnancy was. On the understanding she was seven weeks pregnant, they sent her abortifacient tablets, which are legal up to the 10th week of gestation.
On May 11, 2020, Foster’s baby girl was born dead. A post-mortem examination registered the cause as still birth and maternal use of abortion drugs. The baby was estimated to be between 32 and 34 weeks’ gestation.
Initially, Foster, who has a child with special needs, was told that she would serve half her 28-month term in custody and the remainder on licence. On July 18, the Court of Appeal reduced this to a 14-month suspended sentence.
On hearing the news, Bishop Sherrington, the Catholic Church in England and Wales’s lead bishop for life issues said: “It is important that the law which protects the life of the unborn child is upheld. In this case I welcome the court’s decision to show mercy and compassion so that Carla Foster is reunited with her children and her family life can continue.”
He added, “I reiterate the consistent teaching of the Church that both the mother and the unborn child should be afforded the protection of the law and that abortion is always a tragedy for all concerned. I raise again the concern that telemedicine (pills by post), which allows the home termination of pregnancies of up to 10 weeks, is dangerous for the health of women.”
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