A WOMAN has been cleared of having an illegal abortion after she took a dead baby to hospital in a backpack and claimed she miscarried.
Nicola Packer was accused of taking abortion medication at home during the Covid lockdown when she was around 26 weeks pregnant.
PANicola PAcker has been cleared of having an illegal abortion[/caption]
The 41-year-old then made her way to Chelsea and Westminster hospital the following day with the baby in a bag, it was said.
A post mortem revealed the fetus was healthy and around 26 weeks.
The legal limit for at-home abortions in the UK is ten weeks, while the outer limit for the procedure is 24 weeks.
Packer has now been found not guilty of “unlawfully administering to herself a poison or other noxious thing” with the “intent to procure a miscarriage”.
Prosecutors alleged that Packer, who sobbed as the verdict was delivered, knew she had been pregnant for more than 10 weeks.
Isleworth Crown Court heard Packer was in a BDSM (bondage, dominance and submission) relationship with a married couple.
When the UK was plunged into a Covid lockdown, they all lived together.
The wife claimed her husband and Packer had a “friends-with-benefits” relationship but at the time she believed they were not having sexual intercourse.
The court heard on November 6, 2020, Packer took prescribed medications mifepristone and misoprostol on November 6, 2020.
She told a nurse she “thought she had miscarried” and was 16 to 18 weeks pregnant – but she later changed this to ten weeks.
She claimed she only learnt about her pregnancy four days prior but had started bleeding heavily.
Packer said she thought she was less than ten weeks pregnant and when she had looked into the toilet bowl, she saw “something larger than she had expected”.
While at the hospital, Packer allegedly searched for “is mifesopron detectable” and “is the abortion pill detectable UK”.
Following her arrest, police discovered Packer had contacted the Marie Stopes clinic on November 2, it was said.
She then made a number of web searches – including “is at home abortion treatment effective up to 12 weeks” and “abortion limit UK”.
Packer spoke to Marie Stopes again on November 3 and requested a telephone appointment because it could be arranged more quickly than a video call, the court heard.
Jurors were told that the following day, she had a “full consultation” with a nurse and was later sent the medications.
After taking at least the first medication, the day before she went to hospital, Packer viewed a page titled “Medical Abortion from 10 weeks to 24 weeks BPA” and searched “abortion at home at 15 weeks” and “13 – 24 week medical abortion”.
Shortly after 5am on November 7, she searched “if you late miscarry at home what do you do with the fetus” and “can the father take the miscarried fetus to the hospital to get rid of in the UK”.
Packer denied the charge and claimed she did not believe she had been pregnant for that long.
The Crown Prosecution Service said following today’s verdict: “Our prosecutors exercise the greatest care when considering complex and traumatic cases such as this one.
“We recognise the profound strength of feeling these cases evoke, but have a duty to apply laws passed by Parliament fairly and impartially.
“The role of the Crown Prosecution Service in this case was not to decide whether Nicola Packer’s actions were right or wrong; but to make a factual judgement about whether she knew she was beyond the legal limit when she procured an abortion.
“Prosecutors considered there was enough evidence to bring this case for a court to decide, and we respect the jury’s decision.”
Labour MP Stella Creasy also spoke out following the decision, saying it was a “shocking wake up call that women are still being investigated and prosecuted for having an abortion today in this country”.
She said the law must be changed so that “the right to choose is a human right”.
PAProsecutors alleged she knew she was more than 10 weeks pregnant[/caption]
PAPacker wept as the verdict was delivered[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
