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A British woman was sentenced to an 18-month community order for conspiring with her partner to buy abortion pills to end her pregnancy when she was a teenager.
On Wednesday, Sophie Harvey, now 25, and her former partner, Elliot Benham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to procure a “poison” with intent to cause a miscarriage.
In May 2024, Harvey and Benham went on trial on charges of “procuring and administering” abortion pills with the intent to cause a miscarriage and perverting the course of justice.
At trial, Harvey denied taking abortion medication after the 24-week legal limit and told Gloucester Crown Court the child was delivered naturally and stillborn in September 2018 when she was 19 years old.
The jury was discharged after five days for legal reasons and the pair were released on bail.
A further trial was listed for February 2025, but a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spokesperson said that “after careful reflection, we have concluded that it is not in the public interest to pursue further charges”.
Harvey and Benham had previously pleaded guilty to concealing the birth of a child.
Justice Ian Lawrie KC, who commented on the “long and painful process” of the case for the pair, handed Benham an 18-month community order, along with 150 hours of unpaid work.
Harvey spoke quietly as she told Gloucester Crown Court she was pleading guilty to conspiring with Benham to buy abortion pills online in 2018 with the intent to end her pregnancy illegally.
Justice Lawrie was forced to adjourn the trial in May on multiple occasions after Harvey became distressed when details of the birth were discussed.
Harvey’s mother wrote in a letter provided to the court: “I want to see my daughter gain her life back… I just want to see my happy little girl once again.”
A CPS spokesperson said: “Our duty is to apply the law set by Parliament impartially – especially when dealing with the most difficult or complex decisions.”
Although abortion was legalised in England and Wales in 1967, the procedure is still criminal in specific circumstances.
Under Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA) 1861, it is illegal for a woman to buy and take abortion pills with the intent to cause her own miscarriage after 24 weeks of pregnancy. The maximum sentence is life in prison.
In August 2018, she was told by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) she was unable to have a legal termination as she was 28 weeks pregnant – not 16 weeks as she had thought.
Three months later, Harvey and Benham were arrested at a family home and held in custody for more than 19 hours when their accounts of how Harvey lost the baby differed.
Over six years of investigation Harvey was interviewed by police on four occasions – in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.
Tom Godfrey, Harvey’s barrister, told the court the investigation had taken an “unacceptable and extraordinary amount of time” which had “an enormous and profound effect” on Harvey.
Heidi Stewart, CEO at BPAS, told Tortoise she welcomed the CPS decision to drop the charges under the OAPA 1861, “a law that should have no place in governing women’s bodies”.
“Prosecuting women for seeking to end their pregnancies is never in the public interest,” Stewart said. “This case exposes the harmful and unnecessary criminalisation of women under laws written more than 160 years ago. Instead of compassion and support, this young woman has been met with stigma, shame, and a protracted legal process that has disrupted her life for years.
“The focus should not be on claims by the CPS and the Police of a successful prosecution, but on the injustice of a system that has pursued a vulnerable individual so relentlessly, despite their lack of evidence. It is time to decriminalise abortion and ensure no one else has to endure what she has been through.”
Harvey is one of six women who have appeared in an English court facing charges for illegally ending their pregnancies since December 2022.
Before the general election, MPs were expected to vote on an amendment led by Dame Diana Johnson, now Home Office minister, which would stop a woman facing jail for ending her own pregnancy in England and Wales.
Labour MP Stella Creasy, who has campaigned to decriminalise abortion in the UK, said: “The prosecution of women for having an abortion under outdated laws in England and Wales has to stop. As the judge highlighted, the trauma of this has compounded an already distressing situation involving a vulnerable young woman which has dragged on for six years.”
She said that it was “time to decriminalise abortion and recognise this is a healthcare matter”.
A spokesperson for Gloucestershire Police said: “This was a really sensitive and difficult case, which has been upsetting for all involved. After concerns had been raised to police by a healthcare professional, we had a duty to establish what had happened and carry out a full and impartial investigation.”
