Paramedic jailed after secretly giving pregnant woman abortion pill
A paramedic has been jailed for 10 years and six months after tricking a woman into having an abortion by giving her a pill without her knowledge.
Stephen Doohan, 33 - who was a clinical team leader for the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) and appeared in the BBC series Paramedics on Scene - first met the victim on holiday in Spain in 2021 and began a long-distance relationship with her, despite being married.
Two years later in March 2023, she travelled to Edinburgh to see him after finding out she was expecting his baby, the High Court in Glasgow heard.
The same day the woman told Doohan she was pregnant, the paramedic used a work intranet to search for abortion drugs, the court was told.
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During consensual sex on March 17, 2023, he then inserted an abortion drug into the woman’s vagina without her knowledge.
During today's sentencing (July 7) in Glasgow, the judge said: “She felt something hard being inserted into her vagina and believed this was a sex toy.”
The following day, she was suffering from stomach cramps and noticed some unusual white discharge in her underwear, so she returned to Doohan’s flat.
Judge Lord Colbeck said: “She took some diazepam and went into a deep sleep, and felt you initiating sexual contact.
“She felt you inserting something hard from under the mattress. She was suspicious of your actions. When you went to the bathroom, she took the opportunity to look under the mattress.”
The woman found some tablets hidden under the mattress and then confronted him over his actions, the court heard.
Doohan convinced the woman, whose name is not being released, to lie to medics at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary because he thought he would be arrested if she told the truth.
She instead attended another regional hospital with her sister, where she was tragically told that she was having a miscarriage.
The court heard that in May 2023, the woman complained to the Scottish Ambulance Service, which launched an investigation.
Doohan had previously pleaded guilty to sexual assault and depositing a drug into her vagina causing her to abort, and depositing with intent to cause her to abort.
As per the BBC, the judge told the court how the paramedic had put his victim ‘through considerable pain over a number of days, and left her facing a lifetime of pain and loss’.
He said: “You researched and planned what you did to your victim. You used resources available to you as a paramedic before manipulating the woman and executing that plan under the guise of consensual sexual activity.
"You left her in what can only be described as considerable pain and anguish over the prospect of losing her child before she did, in fact, do so. The offences committed by you, frankly, are almost as serious as any this court is ever asked to sentence."
Doohan was suspended from the ambulance service once it learned of his actions and Lord Colbeck also imposed a non-harassment order for an indeterminate period of time on the paramedic.
Defending, Mark Stewart KC, said: “I express Mr Doohan’s deep sorrow and regret for the actions he is now in the court charged with. His position is that he is filled with remorse for the harm he has caused, and the breach of trust his actions represented.”
If you need support and advice following a pregnancy loss, you can contact the Tommy’s team at [email protected]. You can also call them for free on 0800 014 7800, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
Madison Burgess