Sister Andrea Fraile devotes her life to persuading pregnant women not to have an abortion, helping those who have chosen to have their baby, and counselling women who underwent a termination and regret it. With her colleagues in the Sisters of the Gospel of Life, a Catholic community set up in Glasgow in 2000, she helps to run the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative.
'We see 30-40 women a week, aged from 15 to their forties, most of whom are pregnant. We do our best to dissuade them from having an abortion and try to give them an alternative and help with some of the practical problems they may face,' says the 33-year-old.
That can be helping a 15-year-old girl to tell her parents that she is expecting, or negotiating on her behalf with her school. Or helping a woman whose instinct is to have the child not to give in to pressure from friends, family or boyfriend to abort. It may be as simple as buying a woman a cot, pram and baby clothes or lobbying for a better flat on her behalf.
'People say that abortion is no big deal, but it is. Women feel devastated by it. It goes against every instinct of a woman and of a mother to destroy the life within her,' she says.
'It can be very detrimental to their mental state. Physically it could mean that in future if she wants to have a baby she will have difficulty conceiving. And she may have difficulty sustaining relationships and may turn to drink or drug abuse to help her cope.'
For Fraile, the fact that most abortions are carried out within 12 weeks means it would be much better to tighten the grounds on which a woman can have an abortion rather than cut the upper time-limit.
'Abortion is now a form of contraception. Ninety-nine per cent of abortions are carried out on social grounds, simply because the woman has said something like, "It would depress me to have the baby",' she says.
'That wasn't the plan with the 1967 act. I'd like to see the "two doctors' signatures" requirement remain and a much more thorough investigation of the woman's mental state before an abortion is approved.'
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