UK recording artist Lily Allen said she does not remember how many abortions she's had. Allen, who hosts the Miss Me? podcast on the BBC along with Miquita Oliver, is now the mother of two daughters under the age of 10.
The two were taking calls about birth control and contraception, answering a question about the age they first started taking contraception. Allen revealed that she's been using an IUD, but that "before that it was a complete disaster area."
"I'd get pregnant all the time," Allen said, "all the time." When Oliver asked if she'd had an abortion, Allen sang an impromptu song to the tune of a Frank Sinatra song.
"Abortions, I've had a few, but then again I can't remember exactly how many," she sang, to the tune of "My Way."
"I can't remember, yeah, I think maybe like, I want to say five, four or five," Allen said.
"I've had five, too," Oliver said. "I'm so happy I can say that, and you can say it, and no one came to shoot us down, no judgment."
"No judgment," Allen said.
"We've had the same amount of abortions," Oliver said.
Allen recounted one abortion incident, saying, "So I remember once getting pregnant, and the man paying for my abortion and me thinking it was so romantic."
Oliver admitted that she does think a man paying for an abortion is romantic. "I actually think that is romantic. Do you not think that's romantic? Whoops. Am I an idiot? "
Allen laughed, imitating the hypothetical man, saying, "Getting rid of the problem. Let me take care of this."
Oliver defended her view, recounting a scenario, saying, "like if you're both like, 'let's not do this. I don't want it, neither do I. Oh sh*t, okay well I can sort that out."
"No, I don't think it's generous or romantic," Allen said. "Think about how long that, that investment, like that's, how much is it, like 500 quid? Yeah, kids are a lot more expensive. They're like, 'yeah, yeah, I'll pay for that.' Like 'yeah, I've got you babe, don't worry about it, I really care are you.'"
The two laughed when Allen shared that the man did not text her afterwards. Allen joked that it was "fair" because she was "a f*cking crazy bitch. Still am."
Oliver went on to discuss the man who first got her pregnant, a tall, fit half-Swede called Julian. Oliver was just 17 years old and said that when she went to a health clinic to access contraception, she ran into friends from school. She felt she was in love with him and saw her beginning to take contraception as proof of that love.
The UK government reports that in 2024, women had 214,869 abortions in England and Wales. This is the highest number of abortions the UK has seen since it began keeping records of the practice, with almost 19 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44.
The abortion rates have been decreasing for women under the age of 18, while they have remained steady for those women aged 35 or older. Much of the increase has to do with the availability of abortion pills such as mifepristone.
The Abortion Act of 1967 specified that abortion is legal up to 23 weeks and 6 days of pregnancy. In the United States, some states allow abortion throughout all three trimesters.
