The Queensland state government is under pressure to reform “archaic” laws criminalising abortion after a young couple were acquitted on charges related to a medical abortion. In the Cairns District Court in north Queensland on 14 October a jury took less than an hour to find Tegan Leach, 20, and Sergei Brennan, 22, not guilty of charges that could have resulted in a jail sentence. Ms Leach was charged under section 225 of the Queensland Criminal Code of 1899, which applies to a woman who uses force, any “noxious” thing, or any other means to procure an abortion. Mr Brennan was charged under section 226 of the code with unlawfully supplying the means to procure an abortion. It was alleged that he had arranged for a relative in the Ukraine to post him tablets of mifepristone (also called RU486) and misoprostol, which had been used to bring about an early abortion in the couple’s home in December 2008.
The United Kingdom’s largest independent abortion provider is mounting a High Court challenge to make it possible for women to complete early stage abortions at home. BPAS, formerly known as the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, is asking the court to rule that the 1967 Abortion Act allows women to take the second dose of tablets for an early medical abortion at home. The act says that any treatment for the termination of pregnancy has to be carried out at a hospital or clinic. Early medical abortion, available in the first nine weeks of pregnancy, requires women to take two sets of treatment, mifepristone and misoprostol, 24 to 48 hours apart. Currently in the UK this means two visits to a hospital or clinic.