A scientist weighs up the five main anti-abortion arguments

In the last week alone, abortion has caused controversy in the US, the UK and in Chile. Medical science is often invoked on both sides of the debate. So what is the evidence on some of the main claims around abortion?

There are few topics in modern discourse quite as divisive, as fraught with misunderstanding and as rooted in deeply-held conviction as abortion.

Those on the pro-choice side of the spectrum argue that it is a woman's right to choose whether she carries a pregnancy to term or not. On the other side, anti-abortion activists insist that from the moment of conception a foetus has an inalienable right to existence. In recent years, polarisation has increased and the topic has become exceptionally politically partisan, with the personal and political aspects increasingly difficult to separate.