Member

I want to finish with a general point. Wherever we stand on this, women’s reproductive rights are a very important thing for us to defend in a modern western society. Last February, the Taliban removed the contraceptive pill from Afghanistan’s pharmacies. That might sound dramatic, but we all know how horrifying it is. We know what it means and we are repulsed at any society that compels women to bear children they do not want. That is why, over the years, we fought for contraception and for the right to abortion. We did not fight for the right to abortion to be barbaric, or because we are interested in killing babies in the womb, or any of those things. We fought for it so that we would be able to control our reproduction—not the state, not the priests, not anyone else, and not the Taliban. Abortion is accepted as a reproductive right and a norm throughout the world. Lots of statistics have been used but, in the UK, 87% of adults believe that women should have access to safe and legal abortions.