Abortion laws aren’t working – no woman should feel like a criminal for making choices about her body

The criminalisation of abortion creates shame and prevents women from talking openly and honestly about it. It’s time to change the conversation, writes Amelia Loulli

Abortion rights supporters pictured in Phoenix, Arizona (AP)

Abortion is ancient history – literally. The earliest written record of the practice dates back more than 4,000 years to an Egyptian papyrus which describes methods by which women could induce abortions.

Yet today, in England and other countries across the world, the ever-shifting legal landscape of abortion access continues to threaten the lives of women and their rights over what they can and cannot do with their bodies.

This week is no exception; abortion rights are back in the spotlight in England. An amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, proposed by Labour MP Diana Johnson, to prevent the prosecution of women in England and Wales who end a pregnancy outside of the terms of the Abortion Act (1967) is getting further delayed and tweaked.