Abortion with covert meds and restraints

A court has ruled that a woman with schizoaffective disorder, who was almost 18 weeks pregnant, should have a medical abortion – using ‘covert’ medication and restraint if she was non-compliant. 

The 26-year-old woman had been detained under the Mental Health Act and was suffering psychosis at the time. With one exception, she had reportedly made clear she wanted a termination. The woman previously had a surgical termination but had threatened to kill herself if she was to have another.

The Court of Protection ruled that she lacked capacity to consent to an abortion and how it should take place. The judge said her mental disorder, which had caused wide-ranging delusions about the nature of her pregnancy, ‘had robbed her of the rational basis to understand her pregnancy and the options available to her’.

He ordered that a medical rather than a surgical termination was in her best interests, despite an expert's warning of the risk of heavy bleeding and the likelihood that ‘the foetus when expelled, will show signs of life… [and]will not be resuscitated’.

None of the parties in the case – two NHS trusts, the Official Solicitor and the woman’s parents – argued in favour of continuing with the pregnancy.

Louise Davies, director of advocacy and policy at CARE, said it was a ‘distressing’ decision. She commented: ‘An abortion has been recommended for a vulnerable woman who lacks mental capacity to make life-changing decisions. She will undergo a medical termination involving drugs that will kill her unborn baby and induce a miscarriage. 

‘These drugs will be given to her ‘covertly’, and restraint will be used if necessary.’

Davies added that it was not ‘compassionate’ and ‘falls far short of the just decision-making God expects of governing authorities… Awful cases like this one are a reminder that we need to pray for a society where every human life is respected and protected.’