A woman who sold abortion pills from a herbal remedy shop in London has been jailed for more than two years, the MHRA has announced.

Gurpreet Kaur, 51, sold Mifepristone from the Rana Herbal Ayuveridic Centre in Southall “with the express purpose of terminating pregnancies”, despite not being a qualified doctor, the MHRA said.

Ms Kaur was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court last week (June 26) to 27 months in prison after she pleaded guilty to an offence under section 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, the MHRA said.

Her arrest followed a joint investigation by the medicines watchdog and the Metropolitan Police into the illegal sale of abortion drugs. The operation was launched after west London police received reports of a “number of women” attending Ealing Hospital with complications from illegal abortions, the MHRA said.

Selling Mifepristone without a medical qualification was illegal and could be “extremely dangerous for patients”, the MHRA said. The drug could only be sold through a registered facility such as a hospital or clinic, it added.

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