The investigation has been described by MPs as “cruel and unnecessary” and a “shocking wake up call” of the need for a change in the law.
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00:00This story has prompted healthcare professionals and MPs to renew calls for reform after this woman at the centre of that court case in Isleworth was subjected to the quote-unquote trauma of a trial, having been accused of an illegal abortion.
00:22Jurors were told at Isleworth Crown Court how then-41-year-old Nicola Packer took prescribed medications when she was around 26 weeks pregnant.
00:35The outer limit for abortions in the UK is normally 24 weeks, although there are grounds where there are no limits.
00:44The legal limit for taking medication at home for an abortion is 10 weeks.
00:49Prosecutors alleged that Miss Packer knew she had been pregnant for more than 10 weeks, which she denies.
00:59Jurors rejected the prosecution's case to find the 45-year-old not guilty of having an illegal abortion.
01:07Miss Packer was supported by five people in the public gallery, with some hugging each other after that non-guilty verdict was read to the court.
01:19The court heard how Miss Packer did not discover she was pregnant until she took a test on the 2nd of November 2020.
01:29She took abortion medication on the 6th of November and went to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital with the fetus.
01:38She stayed the night and was arrested by police the following day.
01:44So she was for the 3rd of March of the following day.
01:47According to 7年 in
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