A lady who was imprisoned for procuring abortion pills illegally in order to terminate her pregnancy when the area was under lockdown will be allowed out.
Carla Foster, 45, was sentenced to a 28-month extension of her original sentence after she pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining her own abortion at a gestational age of 32 to 34 weeks.
Abortions are often only performed in clinics after 10 weeks of pregnancy and are only legal up until 24 weeks.
Sentencing Foster last month, Mr Justice Pepperall said Foster would serve half her term in custody and the remainder on licence after her release.
But at the Court of Appeal in London on Tuesday, three judges reduced her prison sentence.
Dame Victoria Sharp, sitting with Lord Justice Holroyde and Mrs Justice Lambert, said Foster’s sentence would be reduced to 14 months and that it should be suspended.
‘This is a very sad case… It is a case that calls for compassion, not punishment,’ Dame Victoria said.
Foster appeared via videolink from Foston Hall prison for the hearing, wearing glasses and a dark blue top with flowers on the shoulders.
Following the sentencing of the 45-year-old earlier this year, a campaign had been launched to reform abortion law.
Caroline Nokes, chair of the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, had joined women’s rights groups in calling for reform to the 1861 legislation.
She told BBC Radio 4’s World Tonight programme: ‘Cases like this, although tragic and fortunately very rare, do throw into stark relief that we are reliant on legislation that is very, very out of date.’