PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press release – Calls for end to ‘pills by post’ at-home abortion scheme after pills used by man to poison woman’s unborn baby
06 December 2024 – Today, Stuart Worby was sentenced to 12 years in prison after spiking a woman’s drink and ending the life of her unborn child at 15 weeks gestation using pills supplied by one of the UK’s largest abortion providers, and Right To Life UK is calling for an immediate end to the ‘pills by post’ at-home abortion scheme.
Right To Life UK is also calling for a full inquiry into the abortion provider, The Gynae Centre, which provided the abortion pills through the at-home abortion scheme that were used by Stuart Worby.
Stuart Worby was found guilty at Norwich Crown Court in October, 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 victim 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.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said that since the ordeal she had met a new partner but had been unable to conceive.
She said “The only baby that I could have had was the one I lost”.
Neuza Cepeda, 39, who admitted supplying or procuring an instrument to be used with the intent to procure a miscarriage, was sentenced to 22 months in prison, but suspended for two years.
The pills were provided by The Gynae Centre, which runs an at-home abortion scheme under which it sends out abortion pills without an in-person consultation with a medical professional.
The Gynae Centre is 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.
This is not 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.
Background
The Court heard that Worby 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
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 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”.
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 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 this scheme one of the UK’s largest private abortion providers supplied pills that were later used by Stuart Worby to spike a woman’s drink and end the life of her unborn child at 15 weeks gestation”.
“We are calling for a full inquiry into The Gynae Centre, the abortion provider that supplied the abortion pills that Stuart Worby used”.
“Had at-home abortions 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”.
ENDS
- For additional quotes and media interviews contact 07774 483 658 or email press@righttolife.org.uk
- For further information on Right To Life UK visit www.righttolife.org.uk
Additional information
The vital importance of ending the at-home abortion scheme has become clear
- In June 2023, Carla Foster was found guilty of taking abortion pills prescribed by BPAS, Britain’s largest abortion provider, at 32-34 weeks gestation after admitting to lying about her gestational age and claiming to be 7 weeks pregnant. She described being traumatised by the face of her dead baby, whom she named Lily.
- If Carla Foster had been given an in-person appointment at BPAS where her gestation could have been accurately determined, she would not have been able to obtain abortion pills and this tragic case would have been prevented.
- The small recent increase in such prosecutions for illegal late-term abortions, ending the lives of viable babies, is a direct result of the ‘pills-by-post’ scheme that means women are able to obtain abortion pills without an in-person consultation to accurately assess their gestational age or possible health risks such as an ectopic pregnancy.
- This has been acknowledged by pro-choice MPs and campaigners including Stella Creasy MP, abortion rights expert Dr Claire Pierson and major pro-choice leaning newspaper The Observer.
History of at-home abortion scheme
- Telemedicine home abortions were originally introduced in March 2020 as a temporary measure during the pandemic.
- In Feb 2022, the Government announced the scheme would end after running a consultation in which 70% of respondents called for an immediate end to at-home abortion schemes.
- However, at-home abortions were made permanently available via a backbench amendment moved in the House of Lords to the Health and Care Act in March 2022 that narrowly passed by just 27 votes in the Commons.
Government review finds increase in complication rates at later gestation
- A Government review published in November 2023 found the complication rate for medical abortions at 20 weeks and over is 160.33 times higher when compared to medical abortions that occurred at 2 to 9 weeks.
- The complication rate for women who perform their own medical abortions outside of a clinical setting at 10 weeks or beyond in a home abortion is likely to be even higher than the rates when an abortion is happening in a clinical setting.
- Such complications are far more likely without an in-person appointment where there is an opportunity to accurately assess gestation age, and would be even more likely if the current legal deterrent against late-term abortions was removed.
