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

For nearly two centuries, women in the UK have carried the hidden trauma of illegal abortion in silence, and this project will record their testimonies for the first time. This research addresses a profound gap in medical and social history. While the legal framework of abortion is well documented, the lived reality of those who underwent or attempted illegal procedures remains largely unknown. The project will focus on Northern Ireland before expanding to key diaspora cities, examining how legislation, class, race, and religion shaped access to care. By developing new, trauma-informed oral history methods, the team aims to break the silence that stigma has enforced for generations. If successful, this work will fundamentally shift public and policy understanding of what restrictive reproductive healthcare actually does to people—physically, emotionally, and psychologically. The findings will be disseminated through academic publications, a public exhibition, and a podcast, reaching both scholars and the general public. This is not a study with immediate clinical or engineering applications; it is fundamental historical and humanities research that seeks to recover erased experiences and inform more humane policy-making. Similar oral history projects have reshaped public understanding of other stigmatised subjects, from HIV/AIDS to domestic violence, demonstrating that bearing witness to hidden suffering can drive real social change.