Lily Allen ‘can’t remember’ how many abortions she’s had

[blossoming56]

Article in the Fail today about this.
I am pro choice but it did make me a bit uncomfortable. After a while a string of abortions - too many to remember - would surely leave its mark physically and emotionally not mention the cost on the NHS.
Everyone should have a choice but is there not an element of personal responsibility to just take precautions after the first few times?!

''English women are so lucky to have access to this service, even the unfortunate victims of the combination of their own mental health, patriarchy, lack of discipline and arrogance of privilege.''

Well said. She doesn't represent the majority, its a sick culture where people who are unwell expose themselves so we can throw peanuts at them and feel righteous.

She had a stillborn son and severe PND after the birth of her second daughter. Small wonder she was reluctant to go through another pregnancy.

Why are people being so judgmental to the OP for posting this? Lily Allen openly discussed her abortions on a podcast. It's not as though someone leaked her medical records. People are just trying to censor the discussion because it contradicts the "no woman aborts a baby lightly" narrative.

Many women have multiple abortions for various reasons. Why does it have to be shameful?

Hopefully your daughter will hear this and realise that it's okay to make decisions about her own body.

I am pro-choice but I still think there does need to be some limits around abortion and I am not in favour of an attitude to abortion that makes it like getting a cyst removed. Jenny Slate the US comedian also did this and trivialised abortion and it is not only distasteful its actively harmful. I think at the moment the majority of people are pro-choice but most people do still think of human life as being something that should be protected and preserved in most cases. If there is a constant narrative to say women should treat abortion lightly, that terminating up until birth is absolutely fine then there will be a backlash and we could see rights removed.

I also think cavalier attitudes to life impact on society, if we all felt that way then why try to prolong life at all in ill people or support disabled people? Why not just get rid of that which is not wanted and let only the productive survive?

Ok that was a rather extreme framing but the point stands, how we view life shapes society and I don't want us to become a society where life is not held in deep respect and protected by default.

Isn’t she a bit of a provocateur? I would take anything she says in the press with a pinch of salt honestly. Not that it matters. It’s her body, her choice. If it is true, she’d be in the minority regardless.

I deliberately decided to not remember the dates of my miscarriages. Doesn’t mean I am not heartbroken but it was the way I could survive them not remembering the exact date.

As someone who would personally favour tighter restrictions and time frames for abortion - first trimester only unless medical reasons or exceptional circumstances, I hate the concept that it means I'm anti choice.

Anti choice is what we had 100 years ago, with no reliable contraception, no morning after pill, and women having much less freedom to consent to sex than now. Anti choice is what a lot of women still have in many countries, including the US because of difficulties getting affordable contraceptives.

I'm pro the choosing happening earlier. I'm pro easily accessible free contraception. I'm pro free and easy to obtain morning after pill. I'm Pro free pregnancy tests being available in women's toilets. I'm pro on more education on contraception and it becoming a societal norm to double up with hormonal and barrier methods where someone wants to be sure they don't become pregnant. I'm pro it becoming the norm for sexually active women to pee on a (free) stuck monthly, just to check, so that any decisions to can be made quickly.

I'm pro sex. But I also think human life even from an early stage is worth something, and so we should try our best not to create it unintentionally, and where we extinguish it, We do it as early as possible. I personally think that's the responsibility that comes from the freedom to control our own fertility.

You are either pro choice or not. I'd have ripped out all my reproductive stuff and burnt it if I could and it's not easy to get yourself 'done' as some man might come along and need your womb for kid having according to doctors.

What exactly is ridiculous about my list?

Which one of those (non-exhaustive) reasons is ridiculous or unlikely?

I cant remember the figure but it was something like 1/3 women have had an abortion which is a not insignificant number. Many of those women will have had more than one.

Yes.
If you say "women should be able to get abortions unless... apart from... but not too many..." then you are NOT pro choice.

So pro choice is only valid if a woman emotionally suffers from said choice?
A cavalier attitude therefore means unworthy of abortion.
Its horrible to see women judge women but yet still
claim to be fine with abortion- you clearly aren’t!

Miquita has had the same amount. Why is it focused on Lily all the time?

I think at the moment the majority of people are pro-choice but most people do still think of human life as being something that should be protected and preserved in most cases. If there is a constant narrative to say women should treat abortion lightly, that terminating up until birth is absolutely fine then there will be a backlash and we could see rights removed

Yes, we need to be realistic. The MN attitude of "if you don't agree with abortion up until birth, you're not pro-choice" isn't widely shared by society. MN is generally quite overzealous when it comes to abortion: I've seen at least three posters on here say it should be legal for a woman to kill a baby after birth. On a thread about Sally Clark, one of them said a mother or father shouldn't go to prison for killing a child until the age of three.

Exactly this.

It is possible to have two ‘opposing’ views in your own head at the same time.

I am completely in favour of abortion whenever and however many times a woman needs it, women should always have the right to choose and I imagine it is far better for society (and the child!) in most cases that the child is not born.

That doesn’t mean that I think an abortion should be entered into flippantly with no respect for what is actually happening. Even when it’s a bundle of cells it has the potential for life and I do think it’s sad when that is cut short even if it’s the right decision.

she is best ignored

she is smart enough to know exactly how controversial her comment is and LA loves attention, any attention is good attention for good old Lily some things never change

Because no one knows who Miquita is

Yeah this is grim. I mean we don’t know the reasons for each one but surely you’d learn?

Some people just see abortion as an easiest way.
My friend, mum of 2, just had her 5th or 6th abortion because she doesn't like contraception and her husband hates condoms.

It’s gross that she’s being so glib and attention seeking about something that many women have found incredibly traumatic.

But, she is, and always had been, a bit of a nob.

Lily Allen herself doesn't seem to mind turning it into something to laugh and joke about on her podcast with Miquita Oliver. The pair of them actually laughed about it which I think is in extremely poor taste, but I'd expect nothing less from LA, who is a tedious attention whore and does whatever she can to shock.

I am fiercely pro-choice but I find this distasteful in the extreme. Abortion is not to be used repeatedly in place of contraception. At least not when you are a privileged brat like Lily Allen. Some disadvantaged and abused women may have no choice. She isn't one of them.

To say she can't remember how many is disgusting. She's either had far too many or she's just lying for the shock value. Neither is anything to be proud of.

meh

her body, her choice

I do agree that things like LA being so flippant about it is really undermining the seriousness of it. Maybe it is removing the shame as well though?

Even if it is the "right" decision (whatever that means) for many women it is difficult and can be traumatising.

It isnt like getting a cyst removed. Yes, you might be able to pop some pills, have a big period and that it is physically sorted but its not just about the physical aspect. For women who have a medical abortion, there is also the practical healing side and the associated risks.

Either way, I imagine a lot of women find it upsetting and difficult and feel guilt (even if they shouldnt).

"I had like, sooooo many abortions. What am I like? Saved messing about with condoms though. What fun!" does not portray the seriousness of the decision.

I often pop on the Mail website because I find it interesting to see how they report on major news stories and I like to read widely about current affairs. The spin they put on things is mind boggling at times and the comments section can make Facebook and it's little cousin NextDoor look like places of nuanced debate. The current heatwave is a case in point, according to Mail readers is just an "ordinary summer" and there is no such thing as global warming, scientiists are "woke lefties" and climate change actitvists deliberatly set wild fires. Being permanently outraged and seeing conspiracies everywhere must be so tiring.

We do have birth control these days you know. You'd think that as someone who has lost a much wanted baby to stillbirth, she'd treat multiple, sloppy, unwanted conceptions and subsequent multiple terminations as something akin to popping a paracetamol for an annoying headache.