[Margaret Pilkington]

Eric the road to abortion was hard fought over here.
I started on the Gynae ward in October 1977...as a very new staff nurse.
One of the very first ladies I saw almost die, had had a botched abortion.
This despite the fact that abortion had been legal(but still not easy to obtain) for 10 years. Her religion and her shame meant that she couldn't go to her practice (a staunchly catholic doctor) and the receptionist who was known to her family. She felt that the only way out was to get someone (who thought they knew what to do) to do it for her.
She almost paid with her life.......and the surgery she needed, meant that she would never ever have a child of her own.

Terminating a pregnancy is never easy......and it is so easy to be judgemental, when in fact we should be saying 'there but for the grace of.....'