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?!

What do you think she doesn’t understand? You can get an abortion up to 24 weeks, she’s right.

She's put her life in the Daily Mail. It's ridiculous to get prissy on here about discussing it.

Lily is getting the flack and headlines but on the podcast it was actually Miquita Oliver who initially said that she’d had 4 or 5 abortions and Lily Allen said that she was the same.

Both of seemed to have a very limited understanding of contraception (MO more so) and it does raise issues about sex education and access to resources.

Surely you can be pro choice while still acknowledging that multiple abortions (and unprotected sex with numerous partners) is something undesirable?

you are either pro choice or you are not

always blaming and judging woman on here

And people are all high and mighty about getting tattle shut down - this place is just as toxic

YABU
Whether she’s spoken out or not, it’s her body her choice. Fuck all to do with anyone else.

I wish more women had abortions, my mother included.

Correction: she hasn’t given an interview to the DM, the DM (and other media) quoted her podcast with Miquita Oliver.

Don't be silly. There is nothing sad about discussing an issue of importance to all women of childbearing age.

So, would it have been better for her to have babies in those chaotic circumstances? Obviously not. This was the better decision. Sometimes life is not straightforward.

I've taken the morning after pill 3 times in my life. Should I have sorted my shit out? Yes. And I did. But actually that was once at university, once in my early 20s and once when I had 2 very small children. All completely separate incidents and all at times when getting pregnant would have been problematic for different reasons.

Leave her alone. It clearly didn't traumatise her and it was clearly the best option in her circumstances once she was pregnant.

The actual podcast where this story came from

OK. That’s her business. Pro choice means believing women can make their own choices about healthcare.

At the point where someone talks about it happily on their own podcast (which is where the DM got the info from) I don't think they are that bothered about it being discussed elsewhere -in fact I would say that's literally what LA hoped would happen - the whole point of a podcast is to encourage people to listen to and then talk about it, otherwise you'd just have the same conversation with a friend and not record or broadcast it!

If we genuinely think that abortion is a safe and appropriate procedure to end a pregnancy and avoid labour then does it actually matter how many anyone has had?

Does anyone genuinely think this of repeated abortions? The more you have the less safe it becomes, and isn't it clearly better for any woman to avoid the pregnancy in the first place? I'm completely pro choice, but I think it needs to be combined with personal responsibility.

I think it is reasonable to continue a discussion that someone has opened up. I think we do need to have the discussion. It is great that this option is available to women, but I don't think we need to shut down conversations around it. Abortions can have a detrimental effect on your health, fertility and mental health so I think it is healthy to have open discussions about contraception. We do not want to glamorise abortion as contraception to young women.

I respect her choice to terminate as many pregnancies as she wants. However I also respect my own and other's choice to find her attitude about it disgusting.

This is a horrifyingly blase attitude from somebody who clearly has enough economical and social advantage to make better choices. If this was a friend of mine don't think I'd be able to continue the friendship. Freedom of choice doesn't mean freedom of consequences

Why would she put herself in this position? Why not just sort out contraception. She is someone who started out with every advantage in life.

Publicising anything and getting it reported in the papers means it's up for discussion,. That's how news works, @Upsetbetty

You can believe everyone has the right to make their own choice while not liking the choice they make. If that wasn’t the case it would be unacceptable to criticise a political party you disagreed with within a democracy. It’s not necessarily saying she doesn’t have the right to make her own choice - she does - but that some posters don’t like the choice she’s making. Me included.

There's a really uncomfortable whiff here of "you pay for your right to choose by being very serious and torn-up about exercising it" which I don't like very much. I am slightly sceptical about whether Lily Allen is really as unaffected as she perhaps wants people to think, but that's speculation based on how I think I'd feel if I'd had them. She's a different person, who's made different choices which may affect her differently than they would affect me.

She's put it on a podcast, ffs. If you wanted to keep something deeply personal to yourself, is that what you would do?

I think a lot of posters are under a misapprehension about the procedure of an early abortion, particularly a privately provided one. It’s tablets.

I dont think she seems like she is in a good place mentally right now. Plus shes trying to stay relevant and I think she is doing and saying a lot of things she will regret.

Shes always come across as quite arrogant but Im actually feeling really sorry for her right now. I hope she has good people around her.

I am pro choice. I wont judge a woman for the number of abortions she had but I feel like something went very wrong for her if she was using abortion as contraception.

I've not read any articles but have seen the headlines. I hope she isnt trying to publicly work through any unresolved feelings around them though.

I'm just glad to live in a country where access to abortion is available. We all should be.