Late this week, a couple accused of obtaining an illegal abortion in Queensland, Australia, was found not guilty by a District Court jury. According to ABC News, it took the jury under an hour to reach the unanimous verdict. Following the reading of the verdict, applause and cheering broke out in the court’s public gallery.
It has been almost 2 years since Tegan Leach took RU486, a drug used to induce an abortion, that had been sent from the Ukraine to her boyfriend, Sergie Brennan according to Feministing. Leach and Brennan, who were facing up to seven and three years in prison respectively, were the first people in 24 years to be tried for obtaining an abortion in Queensland. The law they were accused of breaking has been on the books since 1899.
Kate Marsh from the group Children by Choice told ABC, “they’ve been through a whole lot over the last 18 months and it’s not something they ever should have had to go through in the first place.” She added, hopefully this decision “gives the Government a bit of impetus for reform.”
