{"id":296599,"date":"2023-08-17T17:41:52","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T22:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=296599"},"modified":"2023-11-06T12:59:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T18:59:00","slug":"uk-case-renewed-calls-person-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/uk-case-renewed-calls-person-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"New UK case sparks renewed calls for reinstatement of in-person abortion appointments"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Right to Life UK<\/a>) Right To Life UK has called on the Government to reinstate in-person appointments before all abortions take place to ensure that the gestation of babies can be accurately assessed, following a woman appearing in court after being charged with procuring an abortion.<\/p>\n

This morning, Bethany Cox, 22, appeared<\/a> at Teesside Crown Court in Middlesbrough.<\/p>\n

Cox denied taking a drug on 6 July 2020 with intent to destroy the life of a child that was capable of being born alive in the knowledge it would lead to the termination of the pregnancy.<\/p>\n

Although the latest guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine establishes 22 weeks\u2019 gestation to be the point of viability, in legislation<\/a>, a baby is considered to be capable of being born alive from 28 weeks gestation.<\/p>\n

If the baby were beyond 28 weeks gestation when the abortion took place on 6 July 2020, the baby would have been at least 13 weeks gestation when the first lockdown was announced on 23 March 2020. Abortions for babies beyond 10 weeks gestation continued to be available from abortion providers throughout the lockdown.<\/p>\n

The second alleged offence was administering a poison with intent to procure a miscarriage, between 2 July and 7 July 2020.<\/p>\n

There has not been further information reported on the circumstances surrounding the case, although the information available indicates that she performed her own medical abortion using abortion pills.<\/p>\n

After extensive lobbying from abortion providers, medical abortions using abortion pills were made available from abortion providers such as BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices without an in-person appointment during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

A seven-day trial has been scheduled to start on 15 January 2024.<\/p>\n

This case follows a trial held earlier this year<\/a>, where Carla Foster, 44, used the British Pregnancy Advisory Service\u2019s (BPAS) \u2018DIY\u2019 abortion scheme to obtain abortion pills during lockdown when she was 32-34 weeks pregnant.<\/p>\n