Many of us in Britain have been shocked by the assault on abortion rights being threatened by the US Supreme Court.  To most of us the US has long been seen as a beacon of freedom and modernity, yet now we see constitutional rights under attack.  And with abortion under fire, what might be next?

In this context, I would like to reply to a couple of my readers who have asked if the story of Lizzy Fairchild’s pregnancy in my 2021 books ‘Sisters’ and ‘Roisin’ was intended as an anti-abortion parable?  The answer is most emphatically no.  I am passionately pro-choice and so are my characters.

Without giving away too much of the story, which will continue in ‘Debbie’s Gift’, Roisin Fauld’s marriage to Colin breaks up.  They had longed for children but hadn’t been able to have them.  That’s not the reason for the break-up, but Roisin had hoped that their childlessness was due to some issue with Colin.  However, their mutual friend Lizzy tries to comfort a distraught Colin and on one rather drunken night they end up in bed.

The result is that Lizzy is pregnant.  Her reaction is to book an immediate termination.  Meanwhile Roisin is heartbroken because the ease with which Colin got Lizzy pregnant shows that it is probably her, not her husband who has fertility problems.

We then follow a tale of love and deep friendship.  Colin and his mother all but beg Lizzy to carry the child.  At first Liz resents even being asked and just wishes her friend would leave it alone.  But they guarantee her that they will gladly take the baby as soon as it’s born and she need never have anything more to do with it if that’s what she wants.

In the end Lizzy agrees, on the strict understanding that she will hand the child over and any responsibility she has will end there.  She continues to emphasise her absolute belief in her right to choose, and her friends, Hazel and Annie, both say they would never have done the same thing. They would have stuck firmly with the termination.

The crunch comes when Lizzy almost miscarries.  Her friends expect her to be relieved at the prospect, but we realise that Liz and Colin are actually deeply in love.  They have just been in denial as neither want to hurt Roisin.  Lizzy’s initial reaction was born of guilt for what she fears she has done to her friend and she desperately does want the baby.

I suspect that if I was writing the same story now I might have done things rather differently.  If I was an American writer I’m certain I would.  In Britain though, the right to abortion simply isn’t under threat, or even a controversial issue.  It is simply a choice to be made or not.  It was legalised in 1967, up to a maximum of 28 weeks gestation.  This was lowered to 24 weeks in the 1990s but only because the improvements made to care for premature babies meant that even the most pro-choice began to have concerns about aborting a foetus that could be viable outside the womb.  There has never been serious pressure to de-legalise.

Oh we have a tiny anti-abortion element and a few religious fanatics, but on the whole, abortion is an issue about which the great bulk of the population are totally relaxed.  It’s much easier then, for a writer like me to bring it into a story which is really about three people who care deeply for each other and are trying to deal with a complex situation without destroying their relationships.

My characters don’t always hold the same views as me, how else could I have baddies otherwise.  But in this case they do.  All of them are pro-choice and so am I.