TICKER: Woman gets eight years in prison for aborting pregnancy a week to delivery

A married British woman who aborted her baby in the final week of her pregnancy was sentenced to eight years in prison Monday — a brutal crime that investigators called “cold and calculating.”

Sarah Catt, 35, of North Yorkshire, England, was accused of using a drug she bought online from a company in India to induce labor past the 24 week limit allowed under law, The Telegraph newspaper reported.

She was 40 weeks when she terminated her pregnancy in May 2010, authorities said.

Catt, who has two children with her husband, said the baby boy was born lifeless and she decided to bury him alone, The Telegraph said. She never told police where she put the body.

Catt believed the baby was the result of a seven-year extramarital affair with a co-worker that eventually ended, the BBC said.

She reportedly never told her husband she was pregnant, although he remained supportive of her during her arrest.

The judge, Justice Jeremy Cooke, scolded Catt for taking away the life of a child who was presumably days from being born.

“What you have done is rob an apparently healthy child, vulnerable and defenseless, of the life which he was about to commence,” Cooke said, according to The Huffington Post UK.

“The child in the womb was so near to birth, in my judgment all right-thinking people would think this offense more serious than unintentional manslaughter,” he added.

During the hearing, the judge was told that Catt previously gave up a child for adoption, had another abortion with her husband’s knowledge and tried to have an abortion in another case but was past the legal limit, The Telegraph said.

Catt’s latest pregnancy was investigated by police after she failed to register her birth with an area hospital.

She pleaded guilty in July to taking a poison to trigger the miscarriage.

Investigators say they still want to know where the baby’s remains were buried.

“I only hope now that Catt has been sentenced and has the time to reflect on her actions, that she will reveal where the body of her baby is, so that we can ensure a compassionate conclusion to this very sad investigation,” Chief Inspector Kerrin Smith said after the hearing.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail