Abortion and the men haunted by regret
By Clare Goldwin and Angela Carless, Daily Mail:
[…] As a doting father, Tony will always treasure these mementoes from his young children. At the back of his mind, however, is a nagging thought that continues to ache like an old wound.
He could — should — have received three cards on Sunday, one from a much older child, on the cusp of entering his or her teenage years. For when he was in his 20s, Tony’s then-girlfriend had an abortion.
While he respected her decision, it was not the outcome he’d hoped for. It’s an event he still lives with today.
‘It left deep scars,’ he admits. ‘There’s always a shadow in the background.
‘The other way to put it is that it’s like wearing a backpack — most days, you’re simply aware it’s there, but on others, it feels like an extra weight pulling you down.’ This year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act that legalised abortion in Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland).
It’s thought there are now around 200,000 legal abortions in Britain every year, and it’s estimated that as many as one in three women will have a termination at some point in her life.
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