No doubt many women who hear the anti-abortion scaremongering roll their eyes. After all, if between a quarter and a third of Australian women get an abortion in their lifetime, and there was any truth to such claims, surely we would have seen some signs of these problems increasing exponentially? If post-abortion syndrome actually existed presumably it would be in plague proportions by now and impossible to ignore. I have had an abortion and never suffered any emotional response beyond relief that the pregnancy I had not wanted was no more. It is the unwanted pregnancy that mostly causes the stress, not the ending of it. I am not claiming that no women ever regrets having a termination. I am sure some of them do just as we regret all sorts of decisions in our lives that were made for what seemed like the right reasons at the time. But that’s not a "syndrome". That’s life. After my abortion, the result of a failure of contraception, I went on to have two much wanted daughters at a time in my life when I was better placed – emotionally, financially and in terms of maturity - to care for them properly. If I’d had that earlier child, I’d never have had my daughters, so how could I possibly regret the decision I made? I regret the torn condom, that is all. Nevertheless, there has been a recent ramping up of the long-running abortion wars. Here in Australia I think it is because there are moves afoot by female politicians in both NSW and Queensland, the two states where abortion remains on the Crimes Act, to change the laws.

Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad is upfront about her desire to decriminalise abortion in her state. NSW MLC Penny Sharpe is launching a campaign to create safety zones around abortion clinics in NSW to prevent protesters harassing women seeking health care – including legal terminations. But it’s not just in Australia where the push is on. In Ireland, voters will decide at a referendum to be held on May 25 whether it is time to change the strictest anti-abortion laws in Europe. In Poland, in 2016, an unprecedented 150,000 women took to the streets to protest a bill that would have made the already strict anti-abortion laws in that country even stricter. The bill was pulled as a result, but there is renewed pressure to try the same tactics again and women are once again marching in protest. In the US, where Roe v Wade protects a woman’s right to seek terminations, some states have made it nearly impossible for women, particularly poorer women, to get affordable access to such procedures and a major provider – Planned Parenthood – is constantly under siege. The results in the most severe anti-abortion states have been horrific, just as they have been in El Salvador. Texas now has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world. Some who would control women and their bodies may not care about the women dying in Texas. Indeed, they may want to add to their number. In April (yes, this April, in 2018) writer Kevin Williamson was sacked by The Atlantic for calling for women who have abortions to face the death penalty in a tweet and a podcast. He even had a specific method in mind. He wanted to see women hanged. If you have watched The Handmaid’s Tale such a desire to see women’s bodies swinging in the breeze may seem horribly familiar. And before you think such extreme reactions could only happen in crypto-theocracies like the US, Poland and Ireland, we have a few home-grown whackos just champing at the bit to see women physically punished here. Worse, ours are not just columnists, but hold seats in our parliament. People vote for them.