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Crime brief: 7 July 2023

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Recent judgments have highlighted the interaction between abortion time limits, criminal law & human rights, as David Walbank KC explains
  • Abortion and the criminal law.
  • No time limit on termination where child may be ‘seriously handicapped’.
  • Declaration of incompatibility refused.

The recent case of Carla Foster has brought the issue of abortion and the criminal law back onto the front pages. Foster, aged 44 years, was handed a 28-month prison sentence in June after she admitted to illegally procuring her own abortion at a late stage of the pregnancy. The case hit the headlines after she pleaded guilty to taking tablets, delivered through the post, in order to abort baby Lily, who was between 32 and 34 weeks’ gestation at the time.

Her prison sentence was immediately followed by a large-scale demonstration in central London. Protestors marched from the Royal Courts of Justice to Whitehall, carrying placards saying ‘Abortion is Healthcare’ and ‘Policing Our Bodies is the Real Crime’. The ultimate aim of some campaigners

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Partner joins commercial property team in Taunton office

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Londstanding London firm appoints new senior partner

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Commercial team in London welcomes technology specialist as partner

NEWS
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When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
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