Oxford student commits suicide after boyfriend convinced her to have abortion then broke up with her
A student at Oxford University committed suicide last year mere hours after her boyfriend broke up with her. The boyfriend told an inquest recently that the young woman’s grief had begun only three months earlier after he convinced her to get an abortion.
Charlotte Coursier, 25, was also troubled by a “campaign of harassment” against her by college lecturer Dr Jeffrey Ketland, with whom she had previously had a sexual relationship.
In June, Coursier was found after hanging herself in her home.
She had begun dating Ben Fardell in July 2012. “In the first six months there were issues of trust and commitment in the relationship,” Fardell told the inquest. “But Charlotte was much better in the new year. Then, in February, she discovered she was seven weeks pregnant despite taking contraception.”
According to Fardell, he told her he wasn’t prepared for a child, and helped her make the “incredibly difficult” decision to seek an abortion.
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