The prosecution of a young couple who were handed community orders at Gloucester crown court more than six years after the stillbirth of a baby has led to renewed calls for abortion law reform in England.

Sophie Harvey and Elliot Benham, both now 25, were originally arrested on suspicion of murder after they disposed of a stillborn foetus.

The couple, who were each 19 at the time, had sought a termination for an unwanted pregnancy, before discovering that Harvey was “too far gone” – beyond the legal time limit – with gestation estimated to be at about 28 weeks and five days.

At Gloucester crown court on Wednesday, the prosecution barrister Anna Vigars said that after they were denied a legal abortion Benham had searched online for alternatives, adding: “Some of them drugs, some of them herbal, none of them legal.”

Benham admitted ordering illegal abortion drugs by post, although the couple maintained that Harvey never took them and the baby was stillborn before the tablets arrived.

They pleaded guilty to conspiracy to procure a poison with intent to procure a miscarriage, and a second count of endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child.

Abortion is illegal under English law and punishable with up to life in prison, but the Abortion Act of 1967 sets out certain scenarios in which an abortion can legally be carried out, with the approval of two doctors.

The time limit in most cases is 24 weeks but there is no limit in some situations, such as when the foetus has a fatal abnormality or when the mother’s life is at risk.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Lawrie said they had been traumatised by the lengthy criminal process, which had involved the jury being discharged in a trial against them after inaccurate reports of the proceedings by the BBC.

“It has been a long and painful journey,” the judge said, adding: “The impact upon your lives has been traumatic and I am sure this will continue for some time.”

An attempt earlier this year to change the law via amendments to the last Conservative government’s criminal justice bill failed when none of these were put to a vote. It followed the prosecutions of several women accused of taking abortion pills illegally, most notably Carla Foster, who was jailed.

With this week’s sentencing, and some predicting the new Labour government’s crime and policing bill may come before parliament as early as January, renewed calls for changes to the law have begun.

“Whatever you feel about abortion, it’s never in the public interest for anyone to be prosecuted for ending their own pregnancy,” Louise McCudden, the UK head of external affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices, a leading provider of abortion services in the UK, said: “These Victorian laws have been on the statute books for a century and a half – and have real consequences today.

“The young woman at the centre of this distressing story needed compassion and advice she could trust, not criminal prosecution and public shaming. If she had been given support at an earlier stage, perhaps this painful outcome could have been avoided.”

Heidi Stewart, the chief executive of the charity the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: “Prosecuting women for seeking to end their pregnancies is never in the public interest. This case exposes the harmful and unnecessary criminalisation of women under laws written more than 160 years ago.

“Instead of compassion and support, this young woman has been met with stigma, shame, and a protracted legal process that has disrupted her life for years.”

Jemima Olchawski, the chief executive of the Fawcett Society, a charity for gender equality and women’s rights, said: “Restricting women’s access to abortion puts our health and lives at risk. No woman should be forced to continue a pregnancy against her will.

“It can never be in the public interest to prosecute in cases like this – abortion is healthcare and women seeking healthcare must not be criminalised. The law that allowed this to happen is so old it predates women’s suffrage – it is in no way fit for purpose in modern-day Britain.”

Dr Jonathan Lord, from the British Society of Abortion Care Providers, said: “The law is causing life-changing harm to vulnerable women and girls. What’s happening, the horrific way the women are being treated – including those with premature labours and natural later pregnancy losses – is a national scandal.

The Labour MP Stella Creasy, who had put forward the proposed amendments to the criminal justice bill, is also continuing to push for legislative change. “It’s time to decriminalise abortion and recognise this is a healthcare matter,” she said.

A government spokesperson said: “All women have access to safe and legal abortions on the NHS. We recognise that this is an extremely sensitive issue, and there are strongly held views on all sides of the discussion. That is why, by longstanding convention, any change to the law in this area would be a matter of conscience for individual MPs rather than the government.

“Decisions to prosecute – within existing legislation – are for the CPS and are incredibly rare.”