I DON'T REGRET MY TWO ABORTIONS

Ellen Manning, 41, is perfectly happy being child free

- Ellen Manning

Having an abortion isn't easy to talk about - especially if, like me, you've had more than one. It shouldn't be anything to be ashamed of, yet there's always a fear of judgement from family and friends. Even if people say nothing, the silence after you say the dreaded A-word speaks volumes.

Those unspoken questions: How could you be so careless? How could you get rid of it? Why wouldn't you want a baby? That last question is actually one that plenty of people feel comfortable asking. There's also the assumption that abortion is something we go through when we're younger and something we will inevitably regret one day. But the thing is, I don't.

When I was in my mid-20s and had been with my now-husband Jamie for a short period of time, I got pregnant accidentally.

Jamie was using contraception but, with me unable to take hormonal contraception due to its effect on me physically and mentally, we were one of those couples for whom an accident happened.

NOT READY

I wasn't far along when we found out, about 10 weeks, and it seemed obvious to us that we weren't ready to have a baby. Unlike what Britney Spears said when she revealed she'd had an abortion aged 19 while with Justin Timberlake, it certainly wasn't something that came more from my partner than me.

In her book, The Woman in Me, Britney wrote: This would just be much earlier than I'd anticipated. But Justin definitely wasn't happy about the pregnancy.' Thankfully, we were equally sure that it wasn't the right time.