Challenging a Culture of Silence: An Oral History of Illegal Abortion in the UK, 1861-2030.

This fellowship will facilitate a comprehensive and trauma informed oral history of illegal abortion in Northern Ireland before extending out to the UK more broadly, to understand the reality of abortion tourism in four key NI diaspora locations: Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow from 1861-present day. This oral history project is an unflinching examination of the physical, emotional and psychological ramifications of restrictive reproductive healthcare. My team and I will will facilitate new understandings of how legislation, location, class, race and religion affect abortion access, with lived testimony at the centre, and deliver a significant shift in our understanding of the realities of illegal abortion and abortion barriers across the UK. It will utilise new oral history methodologies to access the ‘hidden’ aspect of this history, the testimonies of those who underwent, or tried to access these procedures, and for who a centuries–long stigmatization of abortion has encouraged silence. The fellowship will deliver innovative research in the field of medical humanities, oral history and the history of reproductive rights, producing academic publications and public engagement events including an exhibition and a podcast.