Carol McGiffin isn't 'proud' of two abortions but doesn't regret decisions

Carol McGiffin isn\'t "proud" of having two abortions but doesn\'t regret her decisions.

The \'Loose Women\' panellist has opened up about both terminations - the first when she was 28, and the second aged 38 - and admitted she didn\'t realise she hadn\'t spoken about the latter publicly until an appearance on the ITV daytime panel show earlier this month.

She told The Sun newspaper: "It was only when someone who knew me well questioned me about it that I realised I probably hadn\'t.

"I had also genuinely forgotten that I didn\'t mention it in my autobiography. Maybe, at the time, I was embarrassed to admit it.

"That doesn\'t mean I was ashamed of what I did, but an unexplained mishap 10 years earlier could be excused, whereas having it happen a second time, well, there was no excuse. No one would believe that I\'d been on the Pill both times, which I was."

Carol, now 60, explained how she had the first abortion while in a relationship, and her boyfriend was supportive of the decision.

The second "was more complicated", and came after a one night stand which occurred while she was "sort of seeing someone else".

She added: "So I didn\'t tell anyone; not my employer, not my friends or family, not the guy. I don\'t feel bad about that either.

"I mean, what would have been the point? His opinion simply didn\'t matter to me because I had no intention of allowing myself to be connected to him for the rest of my life by carrying on with the pregnancy and having his baby.

"That\'s why I kept schtum. But to say I\'m not ashamed doesn\'t mean I\'m proud of what I did either."

Although Carol has sympathy for people who "would have given anything" to be pregnant, she knows she made the right decision for herself.

She said: "I didn\'t want to have the terminations for all the obvious reasons. I\'m not totally heartless -- there were potential lives that had, I suppose, already been created -- and I feel for all the women who would have given anything to be in my situation.

"But I don\'t regret anything because I know absolutely that if I hadn\'t done what I did, I\'d definitely have regretted it more. Which made them both very easy decisions to make. I just knew it was the right thing to do."