Abortion was legalised in the UK 50 years ago today but the debate still draws on and women continue to fight for the right to choice.

The Abortion Act 1967 legalised abortion by registered practitioners, giving women a little more control over their own bodies.

The act was brought in to save lives from illegal abortions, in the 50’s maternal death was at its highest, prompting the law to get involved.

It stated that: “Subject to the provisions of this section, a person shall not be guilty of an offence under the law relating to abortion when a pregnancy is terminated by a registered medical practitioner if two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion, formed in good faith—

(a)that the pregnancy has not exceeded its twenty-fourth week and that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family; or

(b)that the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman; or

(c)that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated; or

(d)that there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.

The bill came into effect in 1968 but was not and has still not been extended to Northern Ireland.

The issue today in 2018 is that it is still a massively taboo subject matter that splits humankind ironically down the middle.

To have an abortion involves taking medication to cause an early miscarriage, you must take two pills and these must be within three days of each other to terminate the pregnancy.

Today in The Times a letter has been put to Jeremy Hunt to let women abort their pregnancies in the privacy of their own homes.

Today also marks 50 years since the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), Britain’s largest charitable abortion provider, opened its doors for the first time in Birmingham.

The service now has over 70 clinics across England, Wales and Scotland, seeing almost 80,000 women per year for pregnancy options counselling, contraception, abortion care and miscarriage management.

Despite abortion being legalised it is still a part of the UK criminal code, meaning women are still fighting to have control.

The argument for the decriminalisation of abortion is about taking abortion seriously as a personal issue, it’s not a criminal act.

We may regret asking this, but let us know where you stand on the decriminalisation of abortion.