Children of a British woman suspected of illegal abortion removed from her care

A British mother being investigated for a suspected illegal abortion under a Victorian-era law had her existing children removed from her care, Tortoise can reveal. The mother is one of six women who have appeared in an English court since December 2022 for illegally ending their pregnancies under the Offence Against the Person Act (OAPA) 1861. Before then, only three women had faced convictions since the law was introduced. A High Court judgment on whether media can report on the case, published on Friday, reveals proceedings to remove the children into care were triggered after both parents were arrested on suspicion of murder in August 2023. The children’s parents were subsequently charged with concealing the birth of a child, under Section 60 of the OAPA Act 1861. Those charges were dropped in October 2023 to allow the police “to gather more evidence”. A police spokesperson stated at the time that the investigation “remains very much ongoing” and the children remain in local authority care, with only limited supervised contact with their mother.