‘Call The Midwife’ tackled the harrowing issue of illegal abortions on last night’s episode

Viewers praised the show for how it dealt with the subject.

We love tuning into Call The Midwife on a Sunday evening, tucked up with a cup of tea. It's witty and vibrant and transports you back to 1960s England. It also touches on some serious issues, however. Previously we've seen the show explore topics such as domestic violence, the Suffragette movement and last night, illegal abortions. The most recent installation of the popular BBC One show highlighted the devastating ramifications of what can happen when women are denied bodily autonomy.

“I thought it was going to be different for us, that we were going to be able to choose.” #CallTheMidwife @CallTheMidwife1 pic.twitter.com/VNW3RPYWmj

— BBC One (@BBCOne) February 3, 2019

The moving storyline centred on Jeanie, a woman with two kids and a loving husband. The beginning of the episode showed a blissful family that were saving in earnest to buy a house. When Jeanie started to have some symptoms and suddenly felt unwell at an exercise class, it became obvious that she could be pregnant with a third child. Jeanie had this suspicion confirmed by a doctor and was deeply dismayed as she did not want more than two children and was using contraception to try and prevent this. Dr Turner tried to assuage her worries and told her to tell her husband. He assured her that it would "start to feel like good news" in no time.

A special mention for the marvellous Molly Chesworth @MollyChes who played Jeannie in tonight's moving episode of #callthemidwife ??? pic.twitter.com/JAp0NHQZ8k

— Call The Midwife (@CallTheMidwife1) February 3, 2019

With her husband disapproving of a termination and having been turned down for one by Dr Turner, Jeanie took matters into her own hands, with tragic consequences. The poignant subject matter struck a chord with a lot of viewers and people took to Twitter to thank the show for directly addressing it.

A beautiful, sad episode. Let us not forget that this is still the reality for so many women. #CalltheMidwife

— Jennifer Kirby (@JenniferKirby08) February 3, 2019

No woman wants an abortions, but every woman has the right to decide what they want to do with their bodies. Never let us slip back to the times where this wasn’t possible. Harrowing #CallTheMidwife tonight.

— Chantelle xo (@chantilly111) February 3, 2019

The fact that women in N.Ireland, are still going through this, is disgusting. No one has the right to tell women what they can or can’t do with their bodies. #callthemidwife

— Erin Mason (@erin_daldry089) February 3, 2019

Call the midwife showing how important SAFE LEGAL abortion is. Making it illegal doesn’t stop women having abortions it just stops safe abortions. Madness to think up until a few months ago it was illegal here. #callthemidwife

— Ash??? (@mullificent89) February 3, 2019