'I had a baby early then was investigated for a year'

Bel Trew speaks to a woman hounded by police due to a 164year-old abortion law being debated in parliament this week

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Sammy was being ferried into an ambulance by paramedics after giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to her newborn baby - when she realised there were around eight police officers in her living room.

The mother, in her thirties, had just given birth at home to a baby boy who arrived over three months early, weighing just 1lb 7oz – little more than a bag of sugar.

Police had arrived to assist her in giving lifesaving CPR. But Sammy* says that, while in shock from the traumatic and unexpected birth – and with her baby still fighting for his life – she suddenly found herself at the centre of a criminal investigation.

This would become a devastating 51-week ordeal, triggered by England’s 164-year-old law criminalising abortion, despite the fact that she hadn’t actually had one.

“My front room was full of police officers – there must have been about eight. Then out on the street, my husband said there were two ambulances, two unmarked police cars, and a regular police car. I just thought: Why?”

Sammy has decided to retell her horrific experience as the issue of illegal abortion in the UK reached parliament this week.

Tonia Antoniazzi, Labour MP for Gower, has put forward an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to remove the criminal aspect of ending abortions illegally, to bring England and Wales in line with Scotland and Northern Ireland. MPs are expected to vote on the issue this summer.

In an interview with The Independent, Sammy says: “They were following my husband around – he wasn’t allowed to be alone. I was at the hospital, not knowing what was happening at home. Then, they told my [other] son he had to leave. He had 10 minutes to get his things and get out.”