Safe and legal procedures in UK for 50yrs

Head of Advocacy, Marie Stopes International

JACOB Rees-Mogg was asked for his opinion on abortion, and he gave it. He is entitled to do that, as any of us are, but it’s important to acknowledge that having an opinion on abortion does nothing to help a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy.

Here in the UK, women have benefited from safe and legal abortion for 50 years. Before that, it was not uncommon for women to take matters into their own hands. Some would seek out untrained abortionists. Others used wire coat hangers or threw themselves down the stairs.

The 1967 Abortion Act was transformative, bringing abortion out of the backstreets and in to the care of the NHS.

In other countries women aren’t so lucky. With laws and policies blocking access to safe abortion, each year 21.6 million resort to dangerous methods to end an unplanned pregnancy. Our teams worldwide witness and deal with the terrible consequences of this.

No one should be seeking to replicate this situation in the UK.