A woman jailed for illegally obtaining abortion tablets to end her pregnancy during lockdown will be released from prison after the Court of Appeal reduced her sentence.

Carla Foster, 45, was originally handed a 28-month sentence in June.

But on Tuesday, three judges said her sentence would be reduced to a 14-month suspended sentence. She will also have to complete up to 50 days of activity.

“This is a very sad case… It is a case that calls for compassion, not punishment,” Dame Victoria Sharp, sitting with Lord Justice Holroyde and Mrs Justice Lambert, said.

The mother-of-three had admitted illegally procuring her own abortion when she was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant during the COVID pandemic.

The termination was eight to 10 weeks later than the 24-week legal period for having an abortion in England, Scotland and Wales.

She appeared via video-link from Foston Hall Prison for the hearing, wearing glasses and a dark blue top with flowers on the shoulders.

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Following the Court of Appeal ruling, Labour MP Stella Creasy said: “The relief that this woman can go home to be with her children is tempered by the knowledge there are more cases to come where women in England being prosecuted and investigated for having abortions under this archaic legislation.

“That’s why we need decrim now.”

The case has galvanised the pro-abortion movement.

Last month, thousands of abortion rights activists marched from the Royal Courts of Justice to Whitehall, demanding an end to the criminalisation of abortion, following Foster’s sentencing.

Clare Murphy, chief executive of charity, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said they “echo the judges’ statements”.

She said the court had “recognised that this cruel, antiquated law foes not reflect the values of society today”.

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