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A Gloucestershire teenager obtained pills for an illegal abortion while six months pregnant, a court has heard. Sophie Harvey is accused of taking the drug to terminate her pregnancy after discovering she was 28 weeks and five days gestation, making it too late for a legal abortion in England.
Prosecutors claim that Harvey, from Cirencester, and her boyfriend, Elliot Benham, now 25, searched online for ways to end the pregnancy and purchased drugs, which she then ingested. Gloucester Crown Court was told that Harvey, then 19, gave birth in the bathroom of her home, wrapped the baby in a towel, and disposed of it in a bin.
Anna Vigars KC, prosecuting, informed the court that abortions are legal in England up to 24 weeks if performed by a registered medical practitioner, and can be carried out beyond 24 weeks in very limited circumstances, which did not apply in this case.
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She said: “These two young people found themselves in a very difficult situation facing difficult choices a situation of their own making. In the summer of 2018 they were both 19 and in a relationship and had been for about a year.”
Mrs Vigars explained that by August 2018, Harvey suspected she might be pregnant as she hadn’t had a period since mid-April. Harvey and Benham informed their GP that she might be around 16 weeks pregnant and didn’t want to keep the baby, so they were referred to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS).
The couple’s ordeal began with a visit to BPAS on August 30, where a scan indicated that Harvey was 28 weeks and five days into her pregnancy.
“It was impossible for her to have an abortion at this stage,” stated Mrs Vigars.
Understandably, both were visibly stunned by the news, according to staff members who spoke with them. Following the appointment, the BPAS referred Harvey back to her GP for immediate antenatal care. However, despite efforts, community midwives could not reach her, the court was informed.
“She didn’t want to have the baby and bluntly both of them wanted the problem to disappear,” the prosecutor said.
The jury learned that the defendants had been scouring the internet for details on illegal abortions and necessary medications.
In her address to the jury, Mrs Vigars highlighted: “Whatever your views of abortion and the right of woman to choose, or whether you believe abortion is wrong because of the ending of a life, what is very clear is this: by the beginning of September 2018, Sophie Harvey and Elliot Benham were in a difficult position and one that was not going to go away unless they did something about it.”
About a week subsequent to their BPAS visit, Benham paid £309.44 for drugs intended to prompt a medical abortion, which he retrieved from the Royal Mail on September 22, Mrs Vigars disclosed. Harvey later confessed to the police that they had resolved to keep the child but claimed to have endured a stillbirth in September.
“Their position is this,” Mrs Vigars said. “In fact, they suffered a stillbirth between the date the pills were ordered and the date they arrived.
“They say Sophie Harvey gave birth in a bathroom one Sunday afternoon while her family were away at a dancing competition. In her shocked state she wrapped the baby in a towel and disposed of the baby.
“They say that although they had got what they needed for an illegal abortion, in fact Sophie Harvey never took the pills and the baby was born still, and the pregnancy came to an end naturally.”
Mrs Vigars added: “The prosecution do not accept that account. The prosecution position is that the pregnancy was brought to an end by the taking of that pill.
“The Crown’s position is that having done the research, they obtained the pills and she took the first pill and then gave birth, before getting rid of the baby’s body. In getting rid of the baby’s body they were also getting rid of any medical evidence that she had taken the pill.”
Harvey, of St Mary’s Road, Cirencester, Gloucestershire denies charges of procuring a poison, procuring own miscarriage by poison and attempting to pervert the course of public justice. Benham, of Wingfield, Swindon, Wiltshire denies a single charge of attempting to pervert the course of public justice.
The trial was adjourned early for lunch after Harvey became tearful in the dock.
