Nicola Packer, 45, stands trial at Isleworth Crown Court for taking abortion medication beyond legal limits
A woman accused of unlawfully terminating her pregnancy is “still utterly traumatised” by her experience, a jury at Isleworth Crown Court has heard, as her defence barrister insisted the facts of the case amount to a tragedy but not a crime.
Nicola Packer, 45, is standing trial after allegedly taking abortion medication at home in November 2020 while around 26 weeks pregnant – far beyond the legal 10-week limit for at-home medical abortions in the UK. She later took the foetus to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
Prosecutors allege Packer “unlawfully administered to herself a poison or other noxious thing” – namely, the prescribed medications mifepristone and misoprostol – with “intent to procure a miscarriage”. She denies the charge and insists she believed she was less than 10 weeks pregnant at the time.
During her testimony, Packer became visibly emotional, tearfully telling jurors she would never have taken the medication had she known how far along she was. “I would never have put the baby or myself through it if I had known,” she said.
Fiona Horlick KC, defending, told the jury during her closing speech on Tuesday that her client’s experience was “traumatically awful” and that the case had been emotionally harrowing for all involved.
“The facts of this case are a tragedy, but they are not a crime, and Ms Packer is not guilty of this offence,” Ms Horlick said. “She did not set out to break the law. She thought she was under 10 weeks. That belief was informed by the abortion services she contacted.”
Ms Horlick described how Packer rang an abortion provider after discovering her pregnancy “to her shock”, and was advised that she qualified for at-home medication under the 10-week limit. The barrister said her client had no reason to doubt the advice she was given.
“It is hard to imagine the horror,” she added, “expecting to see blood clots and instead seeing a fully formed baby in the toilet. Four-and-a-half years later, you can see how she is still utterly traumatised by that experience.”
Describing her client as “genuine and honest”, Ms Horlick pointed to Packer’s actions in the aftermath of the abortion as evidence of her intentions. “She didn’t dump the baby in a bin. She took it to hospital. She looked into funeral homes. Are those the actions of someone who knew she was acting unlawfully?”
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The jury also heard that Packer was “in shock” when she arrived at the hospital and repeatedly told staff she had no idea she was so far along in the pregnancy.
However, the prosecution, led by Alexandra Felix KC, argued that Packer did know she was more than 10 weeks pregnant and chose to proceed regardless. In her closing speech, Ms Felix told the court that Packer had “reconstructed the timeline” of her pregnancy in retrospect and was “willing to tell lies”.
She further claimed that Packer’s account to hospital staff – that she had suffered a miscarriage – was a “charade”, and accused the defence of relying on emotional appeals.
“The rights and wrongs of abortion are of absolutely no concern in this trial,” Ms Felix said. “Why Nicola Packer chose to have an abortion is not on trial – but what matters is that she took action after knowing she was beyond the legal limit.”
In response, Ms Horlick accused the prosecution of making “speculation and distortions of the evidence”, urging the jury to focus on the reality of the situation.
In the UK, the legal upper limit for abortions is 24 weeks gestation, but at-home abortion pills are only permitted up to 10 weeks. Full-term pregnancy is considered to be 40 weeks.
