THIRTY-FIVE years after the 1967 Abortion Act was passed, women in the North are still unsure of their rights.

A new survey, published by family planning agency Marie Stopes International (MSI), revealed that although 75 per cent of women in the region supported a woman's right to end a pregnancy, their knowledge and understanding of abortion was extremely limited.

Women's Perceptions of Abortion Law and Practice in Britain, 2002, questioned 1,222 women nationwide, aged 16 to 49, 345 of them in the North.

The research was the first of its kind to be carried out in Britain and marked the 35th anniversary of legal abortion.

Helen Axby, MSI chief executive, said: "Social taboos still exist around abortion which create a culture of secrecy that impedes progress in developing a modern service and denies women's rights to control their own fertility.

"If women are unaware of how discriminatory current abortion law is, they will be equally unaware of the need to press for a fairer legal framework."

On average, one in three women will have an abortion during their reproductive lives.

Last year, 175,952 abortions were carried out in England and Wales, with a further 12,000 in Scotland.

But despite these high figures, according to the survey, only 12 per cent of North women knew the legal limit for abortion is 24 weeks; most believed the cut off point was just 12 weeks.

Only 18 per cent realised that surgical abortion can be carried out under local anaesthetic, and only 42 per cent knew that medical abortion, using the abortion pill, is an alternative for early abortion.

Fifty-five per cent said they thought surgical abortions are carried out under general anaesthetic, but the reality is that far safer and quicker methods, using local anaesthetic, are available.

Mrs Axby said: "It is extremely worrying that in the 21st Century, women in Britain cannot get early abortion on request, like most of their European counterparts, and they still expect to have a general anaesthetic when much safer abortion options are now available.