A man has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a pregnant woman and slipping her abortion pills, which resulted in the loss of her 15-week unborn baby. He obtained the pills via an associate from one of the largest abortion providers in the UK through the pills-by-post scheme.
Earlier this week, Stuart Worby was found guilty at Norwich Crown Court, with the court hearing details of how the 40-year-old had crushed one set of abortion pills – mifepristone – into a glass of orange juice, which the unnamed woman unknowingly drank. He then inserted a number of tablets of misoprostol, another abortion drug, inside the woman after using deception to engage in sexual activity with her.
The Court also heard that he had managed to get hold of the pills through a friend’s girlfriend, Neuza Cepeda, 39, who obtained the abortion pills through a telemedicine abortion appointment with The Gynae Centre in London – the fourth largest private abortion provider in the country after BPAS, MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes) and NUPAS.
Before the introduction of the at-home abortion scheme, women were required to have an in-person consultation with a medical professional and take mifepristone, the first abortion pill used for a medical abortion, under medical supervision in the clinic.
If at-home abortions had not been introduced, Stuart Worby would not have been able to obtain these pills from this abortion provider, and this tragic case would not have happened. The woman involved would not have been spiked and her baby would not have had his or her life ended at 15 weeks gestation.
Cepeda pleaded guilty to supplying the abortion pills to Worby.
The unnamed victim, who wanted to keep her baby, was admitted to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and after enduring a number of hours of pain and blood, and lost her unborn baby the day after the assault, which took place in the summer of 2022.
Forced her to take the pills without her knowledge
The court heard that Worby had carried out the assault after blindfolding the pregnant woman under the guise of “kinky sex”. He was convicted of two counts of sexual assault and a separate charge of administering poison or using an instrument with intent to procure a miscarriage. Worby was found guilty by a unanimous decision.
Worby’s co-defendant, Wayne Finney, 41 was found not guilty by the jury claiming he had only helped Worby to research abortion.
A text message exchange between the two men appears to show the two men discussing the forced abortion.
Finney: “How do you know if it didn’t work?”.
Worby: “Can I call you?”.
Finney: “Yes”.
Worby: “It’s working mate.”.
Finney “How do you know?”.
Worby: “There’s lots of blood and it’s all coming out.”.
Finney: “God is she ok?”.
Police also discovered a WhatsApp message from Worby saying “It didn’t work bro, can vanessa [another name for Cepeda] get on phone tomorrow and say she needs more. I will pay if necessary. She got cramps etc, then was sick. But it didn’t work.”.
Detective Constable Inspector Duncan Woodhams from Norfolk Police said “This has been a complex investigation into the deceitful and determined actions of Worby which had such horrific consequences and marks the first of its kind in finding someone guilty of this specific crime.”
Nicola Pope, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said the woman “was forced to take them [abortion pills] without her knowledge or consent”.
Telemedicine abortion
The unnamed mother told the court she had wanted the baby and had not knowingly taken the abortion pills. Toxicology reports found traces of mifepristone in her blood and in the tissue of her deceased unborn baby.
She contacted police when she saw messages on Worby’s phone to Mr Finney.
Worby and Cepeda are due to be sentenced next month.
This does not appear to have been an isolated incident and, before at-home abortion schemes were made permanent, MPs warned that the scheme would likely be used to obtain pills that would be used by third parties to perform an abortion on a woman without her knowing.
52 MPs backed law change to end ‘pills by post’ at-home abortion scheme
Earlier this year 52 MPs tabled an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill that would have seen an end to the at-home abortion scheme.
The amendment (NC115) was signed by a cross-party group of 52 MPs including former Deputy PMs Thérèse Coffey and Damian Green, former leader of the Conservative Party and cabinet minister Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, former Cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Labour MP Rachael Maskell and Maggie Throup, who was the health minister responsible for abortion services when at-home abortion schemes were made permanent in March 2022.
Widespread support for law change
Polling published in the Daily Telegraph shows that 71% of women supported the proposed law change and only 9% are in favour of the status quo. In contrast, only 16% of the public support current proposals to decriminalise abortion.
Over 800 medical professionals signed a letter to all 650 MPs outlining the risks of late-term at-home abortion and calling on MPs to make a law change to end the at-home abortion scheme.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “We are calling for the Government to immediately end the ‘pills by post’ at-home abortion scheme, under which these abortion pills were provided by one of the UK’s largest private abortion providers, and then used by Stuart Worby to spike a woman’s drink and end the life of her unborn child at 15 weeks gestation”.
“We are also calling for a full inquiry into the abortion provider, The Gynae Centre, which provided the abortion pills that Stuart Worby used”.
“If at-home abortions had not been introduced, Stuart Worby would not have been able to obtain these pills from this abortion provider, and this tragic case would not have happened. The woman involved would not have been spiked and her baby would not have had his or her life ended at 15 weeks gestation”.
