Hannah Al-Othman

20 hours ago | theguardian.com | Hannah Al-Othman

An amendment proposing to decriminalise abortion has been tabled in parliament, backed by a group of more than 50 cross-party MPs.Put forward by the MP Tonia Antoniazzi, it is supported by several of her Labour colleagues including John McDonnell, Nadia Whittome, Jess Asato and Antonia Bance.

1 day ago | theguardian.com | Hannah Al-Othman

“I hate sitting in silence now,” Nikki Packer says. A quiet room reminds her too much of the police cell she was taken to and locked into just hours after undergoing a traumatic stillbirth. Arrested in hospital by uniformed officers, while still recovering from surgery, she was accused of carrying out an illegal abortion. It took four-and-a-half years for her case to come to court, where last week she was unanimously cleared by a jury.

6 days ago | theguardian.com | Hannah Al-Othman |Raphael Boyd

When Nicola Packer took a pregnancy test in November 2020, as the country was in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic, she did not even believe she was pregnant. Aged 41 at the time, she thought it more likely that she was perimenopausal, but had been feeling under the weather and when her friend – with whom the pregnancy had been conceived – suggested she took a test, she only did so to “prove him wrong”.

6 days ago | theguardian.com | Hannah Al-Othman

A woman has been cleared of illegally terminating a pregnancy, after taking abortion pills during lockdown. Nicola Packer, 45, took the pills at home in November 2020. She had been prescribed mifepristone and misoprostol after a remote consultation. She later delivered a foetus, which the court heard was estimated to be around 26 weeks in gestation, which she brought with her to Chelsea and Westminster hospital, Isleworth crown court heard.

6 days ago | theguardian.com | Hannah Al-Othman

Manchester’s Co-op Live, the UK’s biggest indoor concert venue, will go fully plant-based for the first time next month, when trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack headline the venue. Massive Attack are committed to environmental action, and Co-op Live, which is fully electric, also leads in sustainability, with solar panels, rainwater harvesting and a zero-waste-to-landfill policy.