Woman denies self-medicating to induce miscarriage

A woman accused of having an illegal abortion arrived at hospital carrying a foetus in her backpack and told doctors she had miscarried naturally, a court has heard.

Nicola Packer is charged with unlawfully administering to herself a poison or other noxious thing with the intent to procure a miscarriage.

She allegedly took abortion medication at home on 6 November 2020 and went to hospital the following day, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

Ms Packer denied the charge and claimed she did not believe she had been pregnant for that long.

Ms Packer, then 41, took the prescribed medications mifepristone and misoprostol when she was about 26 weeks pregnant, a jury was told.

The legal limit for at-home abortions is 10 weeks and the prosecution alleged Ms Packer knew she had been pregnant for longer than that.

The typical full gestation term is 40 weeks and the limit for abortions in the UK is 24 weeks.

Prosecution barrister Alexandra Felix KC told the court that Ms Packer arrived at hospital and told a nurse she thought she had miscarried at 16-18 weeks.

The nurse saw Ms Packer looking at something on her phone, Ms Felix said.

Searches made while she was at the hospital included "is mifesopron detectable" and "is the abortion pill detectable UK", according to the prosecution.

At this point Ms Packer had not mentioned taking abortion medication, jurors were told.

Ms Felix said an obstetrician estimated the female foetus was at 22 weeks but a post-mortem examination later found it was healthy and at about 26 weeks.

Ms Packer allegedly told two midwives on 8 November she had taken abortion pills received in the post from Marie Stopes, one of the world's largest providers of contraception and abortions.

Police arrested her that day.

Jurors were told the first relevant internet searches were made on 2 November, the same day she contacted Marie Stopes.

She spoke to the organisation again, had a full consultation with a nurse, and was later sent the medications, the court heard.

Jurors were told that after taking at least the first medication the day before she presented at hospital, Ms Packer viewed a site about medical abortions, and searched "late miscarriage".

Ms Felix said the searches were all at a time when Ms Packer could not have known what the foetus looked like, nor its size, "yet the searches suggest that she knew the foetus she was carrying was more than 10 weeks old".

She later searched about what to do with a foetus after a miscarriage and whether a father could take a foetus to a hospital for it to be disposed of, the court was told.

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