Everyone with a brain respects the fact that free and legal abortion is a service that will always be provided in a civilised society. Or so we girls like to believe. Sadly for us, the political stage as we presently have it is cluttered with an apparently endless cast of religious bigots and/or Christian and Muslim toadies, all of whom have far too much to contribute on subjects with which they have no sympathy whatsoever - ie, women, normal sexual relationships, entirely human contraceptive oversights, and the madness that is having a crazy, impromptu shag with your bloke on the couch, then realising you're full of live sperm.

In other words, your average God/Allah-botherer does not know much about life on earth.

Fortunately, not everybody is a religious fanatic, or trying to climb into bed with one. The good people at Feminist Fightback, for example, are trying to operate in the real world of real women's issues. Feminist Fightback is a relatively new group of concerned citizens that formed at the end of 2006 to talk about, and try to change, various aspects of the modern world that prevent so many women from leading agreeable lives.

More than 200 people attended the inaugural Feminist Fightback meeting in October 2006 and the momentum for more appears to be growing. 'There does seem to be some kind of upsurge in interest in women's issues,' says Laura Schwartz. Schwartz is 25, a Phd student, and a member of the Feminist Fightback organising team. 'We have a lot of issues that women want to fight on - like, we are still in a very bad position in terms of equal pay, a living wage for working-class women, and benefits that single mothers can live on.'

Protecting and relaxing criteria for abortion is a 'very important part of the agenda,' says Schwartz. 'We wanted to do something that was more orientated towards direct action, where normal women could get involved and counter the pro-life brigade.' Religion, Schwartz says, is definitely a spanner in feminism's works at this point in time. 'It's not just Christian and Muslim groups - religious groupings [in general] are being given room to flex their muscles. They're being more pushy about their politics. We need to wake up a lot about this subject - this [the right to abortion] is something that needs to be fought for again.'

They plan to up the ante while they're at it, too. One of the ideas behind organising the 3 March rally (the near-40th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act) is get enough support and names to pressure MPs into an early-day motion which further relaxes criteria for an abortion.

Demands include the right to abortion on demand (ie - an end to the present requirement for consent from two doctors) up to the legal time-limit, no reduction in the 24-week time-limit for access to abortion (Conservative nonentity Nadine Dorries was the Tory who most recently tried to attack that one and cut the limit to 18 weeks), and extending abortion rights to women in Northern Ireland. Other laudable aims include having abortion integrated into the NHS as an ordinary medical service, and getting better public funding so that free and equal access to abortion is guaranteed.

To recap:

National Torchlight March For Abortion Rights
Meet 6.30pm outside ULU, Malet Street
Saturday 3 March 2007

Men and women welcome.
Feminist Fightback