The court of appeal has just quashed the prison sentence of a heavily pregnant woman so that she can give birth safely.

The woman, 22, is almost eight months pregnant and has been diagnosed with potentially life threatening pre-eclampsia, which affects the mother’s blood vessels and the baby’s blood supply.

Her counsel argued that the risk of the woman going into premature labour was “live”, and that the management of her pregnancy in prison “does not even seem to meet the requirements of her condition”.   With “a significant history of trauma and mental ill health”, she was “immature and vulnerable”

This marks a sea change in sentencing practices. The prison ombudsman, Ministry of Justice and NHS have declared all pregnancies in prison as high risk. This means that when a judge sentences a pregnant woman to prison, they are sentencing her to a high-risk pregnancy. Prison is never safe to be pregnant. Thanks to your support and organisations like Level up, No Pregnancy Behind Bars and others who have worked tirelessly for this change.  We must keep up this momentum.