Why can’t women on the Isle of Man get an abortion where they live? | Suzy Holland

The island’s law on terminations is unfair and unreasonable. We want equality with the UK so women can access abortions on the NHS

Popular opinion has the Isle of Man – that’s the island in the Irish Sea, not the one in the English Channel – stuck firmly in the 1950s. But you might be surprised by how progressive this self-governing crown dependency actually is: we gave women the vote long before the UK; 16-year-olds have been voting here since 2006; and our chief minister, the equivalent to the UK prime minister, is openly gay. We are progressive, that is, except when it comes to abortion.

The Isle of Man’s Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1995 was loosely based on the UK’s 1967 Abortion Act, which legalised abortions by registered practitioners. However, this act includes restrictions that mean although abortion is legal in some limited circumstances, in practice it’s a difficult and lengthy process. So much so, that last year, according to figures from the UK Department of Health, 105 women travelled from the island to Britain to terminate pregnancies. Others were forced to break the law by buying illegal tablets on the internet and risk prosecution.

It is shocking that women are forced to make decisions about their reproductive health based on their bank balance

Related: Isle of Man abortion campaigners aim to catch up to 1960s UK

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The foul reign of the biological clock

It seems like the concept of the biological clock has been with us for ever. In fact, the metaphor was invented in the late 1970s. And it has been used to reinforce sexist ideas ever since

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Please, can we stop telling women when to have babies? | Michele Hanson

They don’t need to be shamed into hurrying up by experts like Gillian Lockwood. And being part of the ‘sandwich generation’ isn’t that bad – I know

The last thing women need is anyone else telling them when they should or should not have children. Still, Gillian Lockwood, the medical director of Midland Fertility Services, has done just that. She has advised women to have children early, around the age of 25, because on top of all the other ghastly problems that late motherhood can bring there is another “poignant aspect” we ought consider: we “might lose this wonderful relationship between grandparents and grandchildren”.

Related: Children with disabilities need more educational support, not mockery | Lola Okolosie

Related: Why arguing in front of the kids isn’t good for them – or you | Linda Blair

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My OCD reared its ugly head when I tried to come off medication to start a family | Elisa May

Trying to keep my unborn child from possible harm made me very ill. I learned the hard way that I don’t have a choice, but I accept that now

A couple of months ago, I found myself standing perilously high on a shopping centre balcony. A day earlier, I had stood on a railway platform, inching closer and closer to the edge as the trains blasted past. I wasn’t suicidal: quite the opposite; I was petrified about the possibility of suicide and the quest for certainty, the impossible task of eliminating every inch of doubt that I could be capable of such an act, had made me very poorly indeed. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) had reared its ugly head again, robbed me of my judgment and I was now on the road to curing it – through exposure therapy with my therapist such as the above.

Months earlier, I had been so intent on preventing myself from harm, I had spent Christmas avoiding any sort of travel at all. I would walk miles along edges of dual carriageways to avoid car travel, navigate 15 buses instead of the train and complete many obscure rituals in private to stay safe. What had started as normal intrusive thought, that most people have had (what if I jumped in front of this train?), grew into a gnawing obsession, a thirst for absolute certainty that could never be quenched.

I know that taking medication is the right thing for me, and will help me to be an amazing mum

Related: My son’s struggle with OCD showed me the unfairness people with mental illness face | Norman Lamb

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How to break the late baby news - archive, 13 June 1958

13 June 1958: For older mothers, a brief announcement to the assembled members of the Women’s Institute at three months fits the bill

Of all the euphemisms for pregnancy, the happiest by far is “She is interesting” because it is so utterly accurate. There are degrees, of course; babies very soon, very late, in multiples of more than two at a time, or in succession after four, all make their mothers more interesting than those which arrive singly at two-year intervals in (say) the first six years of marriage. But while no mother of two is likely to embark upon a third with the sole object of relieving tedium, it is agreeable, to say the least, to find oneself after eighteen years of marriage, interesting to the point of fascination.

Experience warns that the phase is brief: that it will be followed by a nightmare period of worry and weariness in which interest will be centred exclusively on the new arrival, while its now lumpish mother is “nowt a pound.”

Related: There’s nothing wrong with having a baby in your 70s | Aarathi Prasad

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Life’s online anti-abortion drive relies on peddling misinformation | Jo Tacon

The charity is launching a targeted web-based campaign. It’s entitled to its views, but discussion should be fact-based, not full of biased rhetoric

Anti-abortion charity Life is preparing to launch a major campaign targeting people searching online for keywords related to abortion – meaning that someone who’s pregnant and using a search engine to search for information about her choices might be faced with anti-abortion rhetoric instead of factual and unbiased advice.

This news should concern anyone who supports access to safe, legal abortion as, underneath a superficial layer of pro-woman rhetoric, Life’s views on abortion and sex and relationships education (SRE) do not reflect women’s rights to make safe choices.

Related: Anti-abortion activists plan online push in Britain

Related: Some women regret their abortions. That doesn't mean others shouldn't have the choice | Jessica Valenti

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'Comic genius' Ali Wong: 'Being able to joke about my miscarriage was a relief'

The comedian behind Netflix special Baby Cobra talks to Hadley Freeman about pregnancy, feeling vulnerable, her new material – and throwing up on a plane

When Ali Wong’s comedy special, Baby Cobra, was released on Netflix last month, this once little known standup and writer was instantly praised as “a comic genius” and “groundbreaker”. This is one of the rare instances where the puffery is deserved. Wong, known before almost solely for her work on ABC’s Fresh Off The Boat, doesn’t just deliver one of the filthiest and funniest comedy specials I’ve ever seen, she does it while seven months pregnant. You haven’t seen comedy until you’ve seen a heavily pregnant woman miming how she likes to stick her thumb up her husband’s butt while having sex because his fear about being gay turns her on.

Aside from the sex – and there is A LOT of sex in Baby Cobra – Wong looks at not obviously comedic subjects including her previous miscarriage and fertility struggles and makes them genuinely hilarious, while also picking apart both sexism and feminism.

I had no idea about things like the severe constipations, the bleeding gums or that my lasered moustache would come back

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Doctors edge closer to creating babies with DNA from three people

Studies on embryos made with extra DNA showed majority were indistinguishable from standard IVF embryos

Doctors are a step closer to creating babies with DNA from three people after research on healthy embryos found the procedure was likely to produce normal pregnancies.

Studies on embryos made with extra DNA showed that the majority were indistinguishable from standard IVF embryos, although further tests hinted that the procedure still carried risks.

Related: ‘Three-parent’ babies explained: what are the concerns and are they justified?

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Baby born to mother who had been brain-dead for four months

Healthy boy born by caesarean section after mother had a brain haemorrhage in February

A healthy baby was born in Portugal on Tuesday to a mother who had been brain-dead for nearly four months.

“The baby boy, weighing 2.35kg (5lb 3oz), was born after 32 weeks without complications and by caesarean section,” announced the Lisbon hospital that carried out the procedure.

Related: Brain-dead pregnant woman’s life support can be switched off, Irish court rules

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Greg Rutherford freezes sperm over Olympics Zika fears

Long jumper’s partner also reveals she and their son will not attend Rio Games amid concerns about disease affecting newborns

The British Olympian Greg Rutherford has frozen a sample of his sperm before attending the Olympic Games in Rio because of his concerns over the Zika virus.

Rutherford’s partner, Susie Verrill, said the couple, who have a son called Milo, decided to freeze his sperm because they wanted to have more children in the future and were worried about the risks of the disease. Zika infections in pregnant women have been linked to babies being born with microcephaly, or an unusually small skull, and other severe brain defects.

My gf @susiejverrill has written for @StandardIssueUK on why she's not travelling to Rio during The Olympics - https://t.co/oFHKSvePRt

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Smokers distort health warnings on cigarette packs, research shows

A study finds that smokers feel ostracised in society because of strict legislation, including plain packaging, and often obscure the warnings

The author of a 10-year study of Australian smokers has criticised messaging that conveys they are ignorant of its harms, instead finding that they can get “very creative” in avoiding health warnings.

Simone Dennis, an associate professor at the Australian National University, interviewed smokers in public places over the course of a decade and found they increasingly felt marginalised from society because of strict legislation.

Related: Queensland health minister open to lifetime smoking ban for those born after 2001

Related: Australian smokers to pay more than $45 for a packet of cigarettes from 2020

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My mother said all the wrong things after my miscarriage. But that's not a surprise | Jessica Zucker

Miscarriage and still birth remain taboo subjects – and that means few of us know what to say when they happen

“Oh my goodness, you still look pregnant!” my mother said as she looked me up and down. “My miscarriage was two days ago, mom. What do you expect?” I instantly regretted letting her visit while the trauma was still palpable.

This wasn’t the first time I had been besieged by one of my mother’s off-handed comments. This interaction, however, marked a turning point. For years, I made excuses for these kinds of exchanges. I tried to protect myself from admitting that my mother was not able to mother me in the way I needed. But this time, I expected – I needed – more.

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