UK woman who took pills during lockdown cleared of illegal abortion

A woman has been cleared of illegally terminating a pregnancy, after taking abortion pills during lockdown.

Nicola Packer took the pills at home in November 2020. She had been prescribed mifepristone and misoprostol after a remote consultation.

She later delivered a foetus, which the court heard was estimated to be about 26 weeks in gestation, which she brought with her to Chelsea and Westminster hospital, Isleworth crown court heard.

She was arrested in hospital and later charged with “unlawfully administering to herself a poison or other noxious thing” with the “intent to procure a miscarriage”.

Packer had been prescribed the medication under emergency pandemic legislation – later made permanent – that allows for pills to be dispatched by post after a remote consultation in pregnancies up to 10 weeks.

The prosecution had alleged that she believed she was more than 10 weeks pregnant at the time she took the pills.

But she denied the charges, and was found not guilty by a jury of nine women and three men, who returned a unanimous verdict, after the two-week trial.

Katie Saxon, the chief strategic communications officer at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: “A woman who sought medical attention after experiencing a traumatic event has had to endure a protracted police investigation and public trial, her private life picked apart by prosecutors and reported in the national press, at a huge emotional and financial cost.

“Prosecuting women for ‘illegal’ abortion is never in the public interest, and no woman should ever have to go through this again.”

Dr Ranee Thakar, the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “As a doctor, I am acutely aware of how vital it is that women can access essential healthcare in a safe and supportive environment.

“Restrictive abortion laws in England and Wales nurture an environment of fear, stigmatisation and criminalisation. They needlessly subject women to prolonged investigation, criminal charges, and custodial sentences for ending their own pregnancy.”

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Source: The Guardian, 8 May 2025