Diane Munday, a 94-year-old campaigner who helped secure the 1967 Abortion Act, is still fighting for wider reproductive rights. She co-founded the British Pregnancy Advice Service and was a leading member of the Abortion Law Reform Association. Despite her age, she continues to work from her home office, surrounded by decades of campaign materials.
Munday’s activism is driven by personal experience. In 1961, after knowing a woman who died from a backstreet abortion, she had a safe termination at Harley Street. This injustice motivated her to build public support for the 1967 act, speaking at Women’s Institute meetings and sharing her own story to break the silence around abortion.
In June, parliament passed an amendment to the crime and policing bill, ending the criminal investigation of women who terminate pregnancies. This followed high-profile prosecutions of women for ending pregnancies outside the legal framework. Munday welcomed the change but insists the job is only half done.
She now calls for full decriminalisation, including removing the requirement for two doctors to sign off on abortions. Munday also expresses concern about the US Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v Wade, which she sees as a backward step for women’s rights.
