This is The Guardian.
Today, on trial for having an abortion in Britain in 2025.
It was one of those stories that genuinely stopped me in my tracks.
This story has prompted healthcare professionals and MPs to renew calls for reform after this woman at the centre of that court case in Isleworth...
A woman being put on trial in London in 2025 for having an abortion.
It's the sort of thing you might expect in Trump's America, but not in modern Britain.
Yet that is exactly what happened to Nicola Packer earlier this month.
This could happen to any one of us.
If it happens to you, it could happen to anybody.
And it could, and I think that's what's really scary about it, is that,
you know, with the law being as it is, a tragic accident and you're up on trial.
Here's something neither Nicola nor I knew.
Abortion is actually illegal in Britain, under a law dating back to 1861.
carrying the maximum sentence of life in prison.
What makes it not a crime is a series of exemptions which cover most scenarios,
such as whether it happens before 24 weeks,
or if the mother's health is at risk, or if the baby would be born with serious disabilities.
When Nicola took the pills to abort her pregnancy, she did everything by the book.
But still, she ended up in the dock of the Crown Court.
You know, this whole process felt to me like guilty until you prove yourself innocent.