Petition to: Jeremy Wright QC MP - Attorney-General for England and Wales
Support Aisling Hubert in her bid for ‘gender-abortion’ justice
Support Aisling Hubert in her bid for ‘gender-abortion’ justice
My name is Aisling Hubert. I am 23 years old and live in Hove in the UK.
I currently face a legal bill of £47,000 because I dared to challenge doctors in the UK who were filmed offering to abort babies because they were girls.
I need your help. Please sign my petition to the Attorney General of England and Wales asking him to review the huge cost order made against me, and the decision by the public prosecutor not to prosecute the doctors involved.
Let me explain.
When a national newspaper released undercover footage of doctors in the UK offering to abort babies simply because they were girls, I was horrified.
But I assumed that justice would be done. So, like many others, I was shocked when the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that it would not prosecute the doctors, despite finding sufficient evidence to do so, saying that prosecution was not in the 'public interest'.
I knew that I couldn't leave things there. I am passionate about speaking up for unborn children and so I decided to take action.
So, I launched private prosecutions against the two doctors. It was an unusual step but one that I felt that I had to take.
Initially I met with success. Both doctors were summonsed to appear in court to answer charges.
Then things started to get harder. I needed the full video footage from the newspaper investigation. The CPS had the footage but refused to release it to me and my lawyers, and a judge sitting in Manchester Crown Court refused to order it into evidence.
That was hard to fathom but what happened next was even more distressing. The CPS intervened in the case, took it over and dropped it. The action that I had taken as a last resort to bring the doctors to justice, was suddenly closed down.
But the biggest shock was still to come. The court ordered me to pay the doctors – yes, rather than the doctors being brought to justice, I was told to pay the doctors who had been filmed offering gender-abortion.
I have now been ordered to pay £36,000 in costs to the two doctors. On top of that, I've been ordered to pay £11,000 after I challenged those costs and the CPS's decision to derail the prosecutions.
That's a grand total of £47,000! My lawyers haven’t charged me a penny. The £36,000 is what I have been told to pay to the doctors and their lawyers.
I cannot pay this huge sum. I now face another court hearing. The court could reduce the £36,000 sum, agree a gradual payment schedule, or impose a term of imprisonment.
My experience raises big issues.
First, why have these two doctors who were filmed offering to abort babies just because they were girls, not prosecuted? Why is the Crown Prosecution Service not seeking justice, on behalf of unborn children? Won’t this failure put other unborn girls at risk?
Secondly, the freedom of people in the UK to bring private prosecutions is an important protection in a democratic society. It can be used as a last resort to make sure that the establishment doesn’t turn a blind eye to prosecuting wrongdoing. But if people think that they could face a huge legal bill, they will be discouraged from taking action.
That creates a big danger in a democratic society. It makes it harder for the public to be sure that justice is being done.
That’s why I’m asking you to sign my petition to the Attorney General, asking him to review my case and the huge costs awarded against me, and the decision by the CPS not to prosecute the doctors in the first place.
It’s a bad day for justice in the UK, when I am effectively punished for trying to bring the doctors to court, and they are allowed to walk free.
To find out more, please click here.
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Petition to: Jeremy Wright QC MP - Attorney-General for England and Wales
I write to ask you urgently to review the case of Aisling Hubert.
Miss Hubert faces a crippling legal bill of £47,000 (which she cannot pay) after she sought to bring to justice two doctors filmed by a national newspaper offering to abort babies just because they were girls.
Her case raises important questions not only about the CPS’s refusal to prosecute the doctors involved, but also about the importance for British justice of protecting the freedom of citizens to bring private prosecutions.
The freedom of citizens to bring a private prosecution is a constitutional right and cornerstone of English law. Without such a last resort, the public accountability of the justice system, and the public’s confidence in it, would be weakened.
But the award of crippling costs, especially in politically-sensitive public interest cases, threatens to raise a huge barrier to ordinary citizens being able to exercise this important freedom and the democratic ‘check and balance’ that it secures.
Miss Hubert’s case therefore raises issues even bigger than that of these doctor’s behaviour. It goes to the heart of whether the public have effective access to the pursuit of justice.
The case also raises questions about the role of the CPS. Despite finding that there was sufficient evidence for prosecution, the CPS decided that it was not in the public interest to proceed. At the time, this decision attracted concern from across the political spectrum.
Miss Hubert launched her private prosecution because of the CPS’s failure to prosecute. The CPS, however, used its power to intervene and in effect, forcibly takeover the case, which it then dropped. Miss Hubert was ordered to pay £36,000 in costs to the two doctors, and another £11,000 after she challenged those costs and the CPS's decision to derail the prosecutions.
This highlights the extraordinary power of the CPS to make prosecution decisions in politically-sensitive public interest cases, and then effectively shut down challenge of those decisions.
I therefore ask you, in the interests of protecting important principles that underlie British justice, urgently to review Miss Hubert’s case, the role of the CPS in it and the effect of the huge costs ordered against her.
British justice cannot afford a repeat of this situation.
Petition to: Jeremy Wright QC MP - Attorney-General for England and Wales
I write to ask you urgently to review the case of Aisling Hubert.
Miss Hubert faces a crippling legal bill of £47,000 (which she cannot pay) after she sought to bring to justice two doctors filmed by a national newspaper offering to abort babies just because they were girls.
Her case raises important questions not only about the CPS’s refusal to prosecute the doctors involved, but also about the importance for British justice of protecting the freedom of citizens to bring private prosecutions.
The freedom of citizens to bring a private prosecution is a constitutional right and cornerstone of English law. Without such a last resort, the public accountability of the justice system, and the public’s confidence in it, would be weakened.
But the award of crippling costs, especially in politically-sensitive public interest cases, threatens to raise a huge barrier to ordinary citizens being able to exercise this important freedom and the democratic ‘check and balance’ that it secures.
Miss Hubert’s case therefore raises issues even bigger than that of these doctor’s behaviour. It goes to the heart of whether the public have effective access to the pursuit of justice.
The case also raises questions about the role of the CPS. Despite finding that there was sufficient evidence for prosecution, the CPS decided that it was not in the public interest to proceed. At the time, this decision attracted concern from across the political spectrum.
Miss Hubert launched her private prosecution because of the CPS’s failure to prosecute. The CPS, however, used its power to intervene and in effect, forcibly takeover the case, which it then dropped. Miss Hubert was ordered to pay £36,000 in costs to the two doctors, and another £11,000 after she challenged those costs and the CPS's decision to derail the prosecutions.
This highlights the extraordinary power of the CPS to make prosecution decisions in politically-sensitive public interest cases, and then effectively shut down challenge of those decisions.
I therefore ask you, in the interests of protecting important principles that underlie British justice, urgently to review Miss Hubert’s case, the role of the CPS in it and the effect of the huge costs ordered against her.
British justice cannot afford a repeat of this situation.
