I was alerted to this great new site while browsing over at salon.com.

“What to Expect When You’re Aborting” has been set up by a young woman who became so fed up with the lack of pro-choice advice out in the blogosphere for women like her, pregnant and not wanting to be, that she decided to start one up herself. She’ll be blogging her abortion, and in that way hopefully providing other women with some insight into what’s involved.

Apart from sites like Abortion Rights and bpas, which as well as campaigning information provide practical advice to women seeking an abortion, I can’t think of any UK sites that bear comparison to “What to Expect when You’re Aborting”. The Pro-Choice Majority site only has snippets from women who have been through the process, and although there are a few interviews on the net with women who have had abortions, there’s really very little out there for anyone wanting to know how it really feels, and seeking reassurance that it’s an okay thing to do.

And yet it’s amazing how common it is. I know we read all the stats about how one in five women will have an abortion at some point in their lives, but it wasn’t until I started speaking out publicly about having had one that those stats were really brought home to me. I was amazed at the number of women I knew, who had never mentioned it to me before (and why would they, we hardly live in a society that encourages women to talk openly about something like this), who then approached me because they realised it was safe to tell me they’d had one too, and that I wasn’t going to judge them for it.

But I know exactly how those women felt. After all, it took me nearly 10 years to pluck up the courage to tell my parents I’d had an abortion, and even then I was as nervous as hell about how they’d react (to my surprise they were absolutely fine with it – all those years spent worrying over nothing!) It really is time to break the taboo, so that women don’t have to feel like they need permission to talk about such a commonly shared experience.

Anyway, have a look at the site, and if anyone feels like sharing some tips on how they coped with their abortion, the comment box is all yours.