From Poland to Texas, from Chile via Indiana to Channel 4’s Dispatches, the issue of abortion seems to have recovered its political salience during the past year or so. People are talking about it in legislative assemblies and television studios. Sometimes they are marching in the streets again. But there has been a change in the way the debate is framed nowadays. The old “pro-choice” versus “pro-life” dichotomy has all but slipped from view as the issue has metastasised, giving rise to numerous secondary arguments. These can be as hotly contested as the fundamental principles at stake ever were.