I was one of the nine women who shared our experiences of having abortions with the Guardian nine years ago (The doctor said to me: ‘Couldn’t you just go through with the pregnancy?’, 27 October 2006). I hadn’t kept quiet about it before then because I was ashamed, regretful or traumatised. I simply regarded it as a necessary and welcome medical procedure; bringing an unwanted pregnancy to term and trying to support an unwanted child on my own would have been the trauma. Every child must be wanted, and a society that doesn’t facilitate that is uncivilised.
Lindy West (G2, 23 September) may face more obscurantist opposition in the US to this notion than we do in Britain, but in part of our United Kingdom the provisions of the 1967 Abortion Act are still denied to women. Abortion is still not an option for those women in Northern Ireland without sufficient cash for the journey to England. It is for them, as well as for the massive majority of our citizens who support the present legislation, that we must do what we can to make our voices heard loud and clear.
Mary Pimm
London
