Veteran women’s rights campaigner Diane Munday recalls the stark reality of backstreet abortions in the UK

Veteran women's rights campaigner Diane Munday recalls the stark reality of backstreet abortions in the UK

What an illegal abortion was like in the 1960s, reveals 86-year-old activist

Veteran women's rights campaigner Diane Munday recalls the stark reality of backstreet abortions in the UK

Kashmira Gander
Thursday 30 March 2017

Diane Munday didn’t know what an abortion was until she was in her early twenties. But the need to quickly and safely terminate a pregnancy became a very personal reality for her when she sought out an abortion in 1961, while it was still illegal in the UK. Six decades later at the age of 86, she has made an indelible mark on British society as a pioneering campaigner for women's rights.

“It was illegal. People were sent to prison for having and carrying out abortions. It was never a word that was said. But having an abortion was a common experience for many. But I didn’t even know what it was to think about it,” she tells The Independent.
Continued at source: The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/illegal-abortion-1960s-sixties-uk-pro-choice-activist-diane-munday-bpas-a7657726.html