To have any sense of sexual freedom at all, easy access to abortion was and is entirely necessary but abortion is not available on demand
When it comes to any controversial subject - I don't know, let's say abortion - the world brims full of little fictions, the convenient, political myths that crowd out the reality. So, for instance, ridiculous stereotypes regarding women who have had abortions abound. Such women must, of course, be reckless, irresponsible, immature. They must be selfish, unnatural, career-crazed. Most of all, they must be unwomanly and entirely unmaternal.
In the Times last week, columnist Caitlin Moran, a mother of two, challenged these stereotypes, describing her experience of having had an abortion. She explained that, if she had gone through with the pregnancy, "I would see my existing two daughters less, my husband less, my career would be hamstrung and, most importantly of all, I was just too tired to do it all again". Sounds like a good argument, right?
In having an abortion after having children, Moran is far from alone. In fact, 47 per cent of all women in the UK who have an abortion have already had a child, and, in the US, that number rises to 61 per cent. These figures, and these facts - the reality that, for many women, an abortion is necessary if they're to cope, financially and emotionally, with their existing children - are rarely heard. This is hardly surprising. So vexed is the climate around this debate that it's rare to hear directly from women who have had abortions, full stop - and so it's particularly easy for all the nasty stereotypes to persist, stereotypes that directly undermine women's choices.
Another myth is that here in the UK, women have access to "abortion on demand", in the first three months of pregnancy at the very least. This phrase is often spat out with horror by certain corners of the press - what a notion: women having control over their own bodies! - but for many years, in my late teens and early twenties, this was something I took for granted and felt hugely thankful for. I imagined that, if I ever became pregnant and didn't feel I could go ahead with it, I could access an abortion easily on the NHS, and the procedure would take place within days - after all, everyone knows that it's safer to have an abortion as early as possible during a pregnancy.
This understanding didn't make me (or, as far as I know, any of my friends) less careful about contraception. Given a choice between using a condom or taking the pill and a trip to an abortion clinic, the former options obviously seem preferable. But accidents happen, no contraceptive is 100 per cent effective, and so, in order to have any sense of sexual freedom at all, easy access to abortion was and is entirely necessary.
The reality is a little different. Current UK law is based on the Abortion Act of 1967, which requires two doctors to agree that the risk to a woman's physical or mental health - or the risk to her children's physical or mental health - will be greater if she continues with the pregnancy than if she ends it. This ruling applies up until 24 weeks' gestation (although, shamefully, it doesn't apply at all in Northern Ireland, where the procedure remains illegal).
In many cases - certainly if you have a sympathetic GP, or can afford to go private - accessing an abortion can be fairly straightforward. Last year though, I interviewed a number of women who had had abortions and was shocked by how many had faced serious obstructions and delays. One interviewee (who already had four children) approached her GP in the first few weeks of pregnancy, and, due to his clear unwillingness to refer her to doctors who might sign her consent forms, didn't have the procedure until ten weeks later. The detail of her story that stuck in my mind was the horror of going through terrible morning sickness, when she - and, indeed, her husband - knew, without doubt, that they wanted the pregnancy to be over.
What makes her story even more troubling is that, in the near future, women like her could face further delays, even once they've navigated any initial obstructions. Earlier this week, it was reported that Britain is facing "an abortion crisis" as changes in doctor's teaching structures and workloads have led to fewer and fewer training to perform abortions. Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, commented that "there is a real crisis looming. We may well face a situation in five years' time in which women's access to abortion is severely restricted. It is our biggest headache."
The UK group, Abortion Rights, is currently campaigning for "abortion to be available at the request of the woman, at least in the first three months of pregnancy" - and I hope that they are successful. Interestingly, most European countries - Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland - already allow this, the decision being entirely in the woman's hands for the first three months, with no need for doctors to rule on it. In Sweden, abortion on request is available in the first 18 weeks of pregnancy.
Not surprisingly, the result is that women have abortions earlier. In Sweden, for instance, 79 per cent of women who have an abortion do so by the tenth week of pregnancy. In Britain, that figure stands at 67 per cent.
The fact that we have retained such a pat ernalistic law - almost 40 years after it was first created - relates directly to those initial stereotypes: the idea that women who seek an abortion are in some way reckless or unnatural, and must potentially be saved from their own folly.
The reasons that women have abortions are, in fact, as varied as the women themselves. Isn't it time for a law that truly respects women?
Kira Cochrane is women's editor of the Guardian
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