What follows is a blog from a regular reader, Jack Matthew.

On the bus the other day I overheard a conversation between two people about a friend of theirs who’d been made pregnant at 15. Now I’m not so sheltered as to fail to understand that this is fairly common but what really worried me was that she had been kicked out of the house because she wanted to keep the baby. She is now looking for support from friends so that she can raise the child.

I think most of us support the right to choose (within certain boundaries) but surely the right to choose not to have an abortion should be defended as much as any other right? One of the main reasons a woman may have an abortion is an inability to take care of the child. Sadly much of this rests on financial pressures. According to the Irish Herald, the recession is leading to an increase in abortions. A woman who feels trapped and with no other option isn’t making a free choice at all. Why should a fall in the FTSE compel a woman to end her pregnancy in such a difficult way?

The right haven’t helped. While preaching and coercing women away from abortion, they have also shown a complete disregard for young single mothers by attacking ‘dependency culture’ and undermining the services on which they depend; stigmatising abortion with one hand and making it all the more necessary with the other. We do have welfare services to help, but is it enough? Should wealth really be a factor in such a difficult life-changing decision for a woman?

Of course, there are many abortions that have little to do with financial considerations and many women make a free choice to terminate a pregnancy. But I can’t help wondering whether that 15 year old girl will show up at an abortion clinic tomorrow because the free market, her useless boyfriend and her narrow minded parents have all exercised their right to choose, leaving her emotionally damaged for the rest of her life.

Jack Matthew