A woman has written to the Dear Deidre agony aunt column in The Sun to relate how her relationship with her boyfriend fell into turmoil after she resisted pressure from him to have an abortion.
The anonymous woman has described how, after rejecting abortion and choosing life for their child, she faced resentment from her boyfriend who wanted her to abort their child.
She wrote: “He doesn’t seem to care for me anymore, let alone the baby. I think he blames me for the breakdown in our relationship, all because I never had that abortion.”
When the woman found out that she was pregnant, her boyfriend assured her that he would support her. “But it was obvious he wanted me to get rid of it.”
Despite pressure from her partner, she decided to keep the baby, hoping that he would “immediately fall in love with it and everything would be fine”. Instead, she found that he was “constantly grumbling about how his childless friends can afford nice cars and posh houses”.
Abortion coercion is becoming commonplace in the UK, with a new survey finding that 15% of UK women have been pressured into an abortion.
Louise Grant, Abortion Recovery Care and Helpline (ARCH) Director said: "The heart-breaking reality is that most women are pressurised or coerced in some way into an abortion decision, whether it be subtly, harshly, or somewhere between the two. A concerning 70 - 75% of women contacting ARCH have experienced some form of pressure or coercion, many not even realising at the time what or who she is being pressured by.
“We can all play a part in helping women and girls to identify and prevent pressure and coercion. This issue can't be swept under the carpet any longer - coerced abortion is abuse".
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “A significant proportion of women feel pressurised and even coerced into abortions – a reality not reported on.
“But women and even some men are beginning to speak out about the horrific experiences that abortion has enabled. Abortion often brings out the worst in the human condition.
“Unless we wake up to this reality, more women will suffer, while millions more babies will be killed.”
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