When MPs debated decriminalising abortion on 17th June, there was much talk of women in “desperate” circumstances.
“Some women in desperate circumstances make choices that many of us would struggle to understand” pontificated Tonia Antoniazzi, the sponsor of the amendment. She went on “Let us ensure that not a single desperate woman is ever again subject to traumatic criminal investigation at the worst moments of their lives. There must be no more Lauras. There must be no more Nicola Packers.”
Other MPs spoke of “very vulnerable women” “facing incredibly difficult situations”. When David Smith MP tried gently to suggest that “we cannot introduce such a profound change in abortion law on the basis of a simple hope that no woman would take such a drastic step [inducing abortion after 24 weeks]” fellow Labour MP Lola McEvoy pompously told him that he was giving “a speech that I think many Members will find difficult to hear from such a wonderful friend and colleague. Does he agree that many women are already facing incredibly difficult situations, and many could already have a late-term abortion for which they could order pills online? We do not want to criminalise those who are not doing that. It is entirely wrong to criminalise people for taking action.”
Lizzie Collinge said that “Women are extremely unlikely to try to provoke their own abortion outside the time limits. A criminal sanction for that, or a distressing and intrusive investigation, is entirely disproportionate.”
There was of course an inherent contradiction in all these MPs claiming that women are very unlikely to induce their own late term abortion when arguing for an amendment whose sole purpose was to allow just that. But the whole “desperate women” narrative needs challenging. Of course, no one would deny that many women who have abortions are facing difficult circumstances, some of them unimaginably so. But all of them? There are predicted to be a record 300,000 legal abortions in 2025. Are they all the result of desperate women in impossible circumstances?
Not only does that seem unlikely, it is to deny women agency. Women, just like men, do bad things. They lie, cheat, steal, and yes, some of them have abortions for reasons that most people find completely frivolous.
Outside the rarified chambers of the House of Commons, most abortion advocates acknowledge this, and even celebrate it. Alice Wilson writes in the Metro that to be pro-choice is to be “pro the choice of the pregnant person, not the choice that makes you most comfortable.”
Wilson was responding to remarks by the singer Lily Allen, who said in a podcast that she’s “lost count” of the number of abortions she’s had.
“Yeah I’d get pregnant all the time, all the time,” she said of her younger days, proceeding to change the lyrics of the Sinatra hit My Way to “Abortions I’ve had a few… but then again… I can’t remember exactly how many.”
Allen said: “I can’t remember. I think maybe like, I want to say four or five.”
The host of the podcast, her friend Miquita Oliver, said that she’d had a similar number. Disturbingly, while reflecting on her first abortion, Oliver said: ‘I was very excited! I felt like I was like a woman.’
Revealing she bumped into several people from school at the local contraceptive clinic, she went on: ‘I think as a young woman starting your contraceptive journey I was quite excited. It meant that I was having sex.’
Lizzie Collinge MP said in Parliament that “women are not ending their pregnancies because of convenience”. Clearly, this is not the case.
In fact, Allen explicitly addressed the idea that only “desperate” women have abortions.
‘It actually irritates me, and I’ve said it before on the record. I’ve seen memes going around sometimes, on Instagram from pro-abortion accounts or whatever, whenever this conversation comes up, and suddenly you start seeing people posting things about extraordinary reasons for having an abortion.
‘Like: “My aunt had a kid that had this disability,” or whatever, “if she went full term it was going to kill her, so we have to.” It’s like, shut up!
‘Just: “I don’t want a f***ing baby right now.” Literally: “Don’t want a baby” is enough reason.’
Presumably these abortions were within the legal time-limit. But given that Oliver spoke about having some “next-level type of cramps walking around the Royal Albert Hall” after having an abortion when she was “really quite heavily pregnant with my ex” can we really say with the confidence expressed by MPs that no woman would choose to abort after 24 weeks?
The remarks by Allen and Oliver completely cut across the narrative used by MPs that the law needs to be changed to help the “desperate” women who have abortions. This narrative is deliberate. Abortion advocates know that most of the public will be disgusted at the idea of using abortion as a form of birth control. Many people reluctantly support abortion for difficult circumstances, but very few think having multiple abortions because “I don’t want a f***ing baby right now” is acceptable.
Perhaps MPs were only thinking of women in desperate circumstances. But the change in the law to allow women to induce their own abortion up to birth, for any reason, applies to all women. Including those who loose count of how many they’ve had, or find having one exciting.
Lily Allen dispels the narrative decriminalisation advocates push about abortion
