Marie Stopes UK, a leading provider of sexual and reproductive services, has launched a new campaign to get people talking about abortion. #SmashAbortionStigma aims to shine a light on the widespread stigma faced by women who access safe abortion care and break the harmful wall of silence around abortion.

The organisation started the campaign after sharing the news that only one in three women would tell their family and friends if they were considering an abortion. The same YouGov survey from 2019 also found that only 62% would tell their sexual partner about an abortion. And 6% would choose to talk to speak to nobody except a medical expert about it.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, nearly 80% of the 2,684 women surveyed agreed that abortion needs to be talked about more openly in order to increase understanding and reduce stigma.

A number of high-profile women have shared their support of the campaign, including MP Heidi Allen, best-selling author Marian Keyes and Derry Girls actor Siobhan McSweeney.

Just 1 in 3 women would tell a friend they were considering abortion. That has to change