Pregnancy Advisory Service

A. Pregnancy Advisory Service: general files

B. Pregnancy Advisory Service: files on specific topics

C. Keith Hindell: personal files

Following the passing of the 1967 Abortion Act, many women who were entitled to terminations under the terms of the Act were unable to obtain them under the NHS, which was ill-prepared for the demand, as well as having significant local differences in readiness to make provision. A number of private clinics took advantage of the new law but charged sums equivalent to those which pre-1967 semi-legal "Harley Street abortions", had cost, i.e. £100 and upwards. The Pregnancy Advisory Service (f. 1968) was one of the organisations set up to enable women to access terminations of unwanted pregnancy within the terms of Act at non-extortionate prices, initially by putting them in touch with sympathetic private practitioners and then by setting up their own nursing home where the operation could be performed, and subsequently several others, and pioneered the provision of day-care services.

Keith Hindell (b. 1933) was a journalist and BBC radio producer who became sympathetic to the cause of abortion law reform as a result of producing radio documentaries on the subject. Following the passing of the 1967 Act he co-authored Abortion Law Reformed (1971) with Madeleine Simms. He joined the Management Committee of the PAS early in 1971. His experiences with the PAS are described in his memoir A Gilded Vagabond (2012).