A Rant - but close to my heart...

Defending the rights of women to determine their own destiny. I chose to continue a pregnancy with was only going to end in tears. But I had a choice, I could have legally had a late termination. I will stand and defend the rights of any woman to make that same choice for herself.

Abortion needs to be available to those who need it. Richard Carvath aims to take that right away from all women, he sees no difference between a woman for whom contraception has failed, a woman coming to terms with the news her unborn baby is dying inside her, a woman who is carrying a child who is very disabled or a woman who is pregnant as the result of rape.

Expecting a rape victim to continue with a pregnancy is inhumane, it serves only to prolong her violation.

The society he seeks to build will put women back into the position of being 2nd class citizens, of being without rights over their own bodies.

We will have a 2 tier system of health care for women, those who can afford to find good medical care underground or go abroad for help and those who, out of desperation, risk their lives or future fertility by having a back street abortion. A return to unsanitary conditions and women dying needlessly.

How many more films like Vera Drake will it take for us to remember the horriffic butchery that passed for medical care prior to abortion being legalised for all, not just the wealthy who could pull strings and make their 'problems' vanish into thin air?