Mothers, of course, have abortions. And it’s time to accept they are the experts in their own lives

‘For decades people have been told they are making rushed, uninformed, selfish choices to end their pregnancies,’ writes Gina Rushton Photograph: THEPALMER/Getty Images

There are mothers and then there are women who have abortions. It might be the most powerful and pervasive myth anti-abortion lobbyists, politicians and their disciples have ever authored. When every termination becomes a decision to reject motherhood, moralising becomes simple.

Mothers procreate – the virtuous archetype Virgin Mary didn’t even fornicate to do so – while women who have abortions have sex for pleasure, selfishly devouring the forbidden as Eve did.