A woman who was cleared of having an illegal abortion has told of her ‘absolutely horrific’ four-and-a-half-year wait for justice and her hopes that the law is changed in the wake of her trial.
Nicola Packer, 45, was found not guilty at Isleworth Crown Court of ‘unlawfully administering to herself a poison or other noxious thing’ with the ‘intent to procure a miscarriage’.
Her trial heard she took abortion medicine at home in November 2020 and later brought the foetus to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in a backpack.
She spent the night in hospital and was arrested the next day.
Speaking to The Guardian after she was cleared, Ms Packer said: ‘It was just wonderful to get that verdict.
‘I just feel that although the last four-and-a-half years been absolutely horrific, I don’t know if I could say at the moment it was worth it, but to have that validation of being found unanimously not guilty by a jury of my peers, it’s an amazing thing.’
Ms Packer, who was 41 at the time, took prescribed medications mifepristone and misoprostol when she was around 26 weeks pregnant, jurors were told during her trial.
The legal limit for taking medication at home for an abortion is 10 weeks.
Prosecutors alleged that Ms Packer knew she had been pregnant for more than 10 weeks, which jurors rejected to find the 45-year-old not guilty.
Ms Packer wept as she told the court of her shock at discovering she was pregnant.
She told jurors: ‘If I had known I was that far along I wouldn’t have done it. I wouldn’t have put the baby or myself through it.’
Ms Packer broke down in tears when the jury delivered its unanimous verdict on Thursday after more than six hours of deliberations.
After the verdict, healthcare professionals and MPs renewed calls for abortion law reform in the UK.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Rcog) said the trial showed ‘just how outdated and harmful’ current abortion law is.
The college’s president, Dr Ranee Thakar, said: ‘Restrictive abortion laws in England and Wales nurture an environment of fear, stigmatisation and criminalisation.
‘They needlessly subject women to prolonged investigation, criminal charges, and custodial sentences for ending their own pregnancy.
‘The Rex v Nicola Packer case at Isleworth Crown Court shows just how outdated and harmful these laws have become.
‘Abortion reform is urgently needed and now is the time for change.’
Ms Packer echoed these calls, telling The Guardian: ‘I do hope that the law does get changed – it should do.
‘Abortion is healthcare. It should not be treated as anything other than that.’
She described the turmoil of giving evidence during her trial, and said ‘unnecessary’ details of her private life were shared, referring to the details of the bondage, dominance and submission (BDSM) relationship she had been in at the time.
Ms Packer told The Guardian it was ‘horrific’ to be taken to the police station after being in hospital, adding that she is now nervous about seeking medical help.
Her friend Helle Tumbridge said after the verdict: ‘It’s honestly felt like she’s been persecuted for four-and-a-half years for a tragic accident and the trauma that she’s had to carry every single day is unimaginable.
‘And so we’re sort of all floored, really, because this (not guilty verdict) is what we wanted.’
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: ‘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 judgment 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.’
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