cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/7645717

Police in the United Kingdom are using data from period tracking apps and mass spectrometry tests conducted on blood, placenta, and urine to investigate patients who have had “unexplained” miscarriages.

Though abortion is legal in the UK, there are TRAP laws in place requiring certain conditions to be met first, paramount of which is that two separate doctors need to agree that the patient meets the criteria of the 1967 Abortion Act before any treatment can go ahead. Self-managed abortion is a criminal offense with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment in the UK, as is any abortion performed after the pregnancy has progressed passed 23 weeks and six days, unless the patient is at risk of serious physical harm or death, or the fetus has severe developmental anomalies.

  • brewery@feddit.ukEnglish
    7·
    1 year ago

    This is horrifying. It’s interesting what/ who they use their powers to target. The most committed crime is probably speeding so would they ask Google maps how fast you were going? Probably not as it would catch too many of their own but women with unexplained abortions…

    On the flip side, although still want to stress this is horrible what they are doing, I am kind of curious what is happening when by my understanding, abortion is fairly easy to get here and is free. Is it people having miscarriages themselves but trying to keep it quiet from partners/ family, is it people not realising they’re pregnant, people changing their mind or is it, as I suspect, mostly actual medical miscarriages but they are chavs or poor so must’ve done wrong.

      • HeartyBeast@kbin.social
        1·
        1 year ago

        That’s one possibility. Or it could be a ‘miscarriag’ that was actually a post 24 week abortion. Abortions can be carried out after 24 weeks in very limited circumstances – for example, if the mother’s life is at risk or the child would be born with a severe disability.

      • Sarmyth@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Sex can be determined at 9 weeks via blood test, so it would still be possible to legally abort before 12 weeks with that knowledge as long as you don’t disclose your reasoning.