Police have been issued guidance on how to search women’s homes for abortion drugs and check their phones for menstrual cycle tracking apps after unexpected pregnancy loss.
New guidance from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) on “child death investigation” advises officers to search for “drugs that can terminate pregnancy” in cases involving stillbirths. The NPCC, which sets strategic direction for policing across the country UK, also suggests a woman’s digital devices could be seized to help investigators “establish a woman’s knowledge and intention in relation to the pregnancy”. That could include checking a woman’s internet searches, messages to friends and family, and health apps, “such as menstrual cycle and fertility trackers”, it states.
Details are also provided for how police could bypass legal requirements for a court order to obtain medical records about a woman’s abortion from NHS providers.
This could do with a bit more detail. Either it has none or it’s not being reported.
There is a big difference between the police showing up when a woman loses her baby at eight months after neighbours heard a fight and the police showing up at 8 weeks when a family is deep in grief after a miscarriage.
This clearly doesn’t follow the “fight” scenario though, it’s specifically about searching for evidence for an illegal abortion planned by the pregnant woman herself in secret eg via drugs.
I suppose it’s possible they left out the crucial detail that the document starts with “for the love of god do not follow these instructions unless you already have extraordinary evidence”, but I’m willing to give the reporters some small trust that they’d mention something so important, and I can’t see any justification for this document to exist without such a clearly defined limitation.
It would make sense if someone was openly talking about getting an illegal abortion. But I don’t think it should happen after every miscarriage/stillbirth