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According to statistics released in this past week, more than 193,000 women had legal abortions in Britain last year. Forty years ago, following the liberalising 1967 Abortion Act, the figure was 22,000.

The debate about when and whether it's right to terminate a pregnancy has never gone away, and now both opponents of abortion and advocates of free choice are arguing that the law needs changing again.

It is an issue which troubles many, not least churches, which find the tension between affirming the right to life and showing pastoral concern for women in distress very difficult to handle.

The dilemma confronts the Catholic Church along with other faith communities, but its line has always been a firm rejection of abortion in all circumstances. The Scottish cardinal Keith O'Brien recently described the 7 million abortions since the 1967 Act as 'an unspeakable crime' and 'the wanton killing of innocents'. He suggested that Catholic politicians who vote for less restrictive legislation should not present themselves for communion.

Just why do people feel so strongly on both sides of this issue? What's changed to make it surface again? And can there ever be any kind of acceptable middle way?

Joining Roy Jenkins to discuss these issues are: Dr Ellie Lee, co-ordinator of the Pro-Choice Forum and senior lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Kent; Dr. Sandy Kirkman, Principal Lecturer in Midwifery at the University of Glamorgan and the Archbishop of Cardiff, the Most Rev. Peter Smith.

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