Accounts advisor, 22, denies using ‘poison or other instrument’ to carry out her own abortion during lockdown
15 August 2023, 14:07 | Updated: 15 August 2023, 15:07
A woman has denied using "poison" to administer her own abortion at the end of lockdown.
Bethany Cox, 22, is accused of intending to destroy the life of a child and taking misoprostol to procure her own miscarriage.
Ms Cox is an accounts advisor from Eaglescliffe, Stockton.
She appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty on both counts.
Both charges relate to the beginning of July 2020.
She was charged under Section 58 of the Offences Against the Person act 1861 which makes it an offence for a woman to unlawfully procure her own abortion.
The first charge read: “On 06/07/2020 at Stockton, with intent to destroy the life of a child capable of being born alive, by a wilful act, namely administering drugs to procure abortion, contrary to section 58 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, caused the child to die before it had an existence independent of its mother.”
And the second: “Between 02/07/2020 and 07/07/2020 at Stockton, being a woman with child, unlawfully administered to yourself a poison or other noxious thing, with intent to procure your own miscarriage.”
It is the fourth time a woman has been prosecuted for similar charges in the last eight months, compared to just three such trials taking place in the 160 years before that.
A provisional trial date expecting to last seven days was set for January 15 next year.
Ms Cox was granted unconditional bail.
