UK – MPs and peers approve law to pardon women convicted over abortions as far back as 1800s

Law will also expunge police records for women arrested in England and Wales, and stop future prosecutions

Hannah Al-Othman
Fri 17 Apr 2026

Legislation to pardon women who have been convicted of illegal abortions has passed its final parliamentary hurdle, paving the way for a landmark change in the law in England and Wales.

The amendment to the crime and policing bill, which will also expunge the police records of those arrested and investigated over illegal abortions, was considered in the House of Lords during a phase of parliamentary ping-pong, where a bill passes back and forth between the Lords and Commons.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/17/law-pardon-women-convicted-abortions-passes-uk-parliament

17.04.2026

News

1861 Offences against the Person Act

abortion law reform

Crime and Policing bill

Orbán’s election defeat is a blow to the global anti-gender movement

Europe’s great replacement prime minister lost on Sunday, and so did the global anti-gender movement

Sian Norris
16 April 2026

It’s 2017 in Hungary’s capital city of Budapest, and the World Congress of Families has landed in town. Organised by US anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ personality Brian Brown, the annual gathering of Christian nationalist campaigners, political figures, think tanks and academics pulled off its biggest coup yet: welcoming Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán to the stage as a keynote speaker.

Orbán used his speech to describe Europe’s future as “under attack”, with the region “losing out in the population competition between great civilisations”. He claimed that the EU wanted to solve the problems posed by an ageing population and low birth rates with immigration.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/orban-hungary-abortion-lgbtq-great-replacement/

Abortion key safes in Malta

Women on Waves
For immediate release: April 15, 2026

To call attention to the violation of women’s rights in Malta, Women on Waves has placed several abortion key safes across Malta and Gozo. The safes contain abortion pills. Women who are less than 9 weeks pregnant and in need of an abortion can email us to get the location and the code of the safes.

Malta is the only European Union (EU) country to maintain a near-total ban on abortion. Despite the ban, every year approximately 600 women in Malta use abortion pills.[1]

Continued: https://www.womenonwaves.org/en/page/7875/abortion-key-safes-in-malta

15.04.2026

News

Abortion Doula Support Service

Czech abortion rates hit record lows since Communist era as tensions over rights rise

Abortion rates have dropped sevenfold since 1989, but weekend protests and sharp rhetoric signal a deepening divide over reproductive rights.

Elizabeth Zahradnicek-Haas, ČTK
14.04.2026

Abortion numbers in Czechia have fallen to historic lows, but increasingly sharp political rhetoric and rival street demonstrations in Prague this weekend proved that growing tensions over reproductive rights remain.

Police and organizers said more than 4,000 people took part in the March for Life on Saturday, which began near Prague Castle and moved through the city center in smaller groups toward Wenceslas Square. Counter-protesters attempted to block parts of the route at several points, prompting repeated police intervention.

Continued: https://www.expats.cz/czech-news/article/czech-abortions-see-historic-lows-as-political-tensions-heat-up

14.04.2026

News

abortion rates in Czech Republic

Abortion Support Alliance Prague

Scotland – Leading anti-abortion figure standing for Reform UK in May elections

April 13, 2026
By Steph Brawn

A WARNING that reproductive rights "are not safe" with Reform UK has been issued after it emerged a leading anti-abortion figure is standing for the party in England's local elections. Lois McLatchie Miller is standing for Nigel Farage's party in the affluent London area of Maida Vale next month.

McLatchie Miller has worked for years for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) – a Christian group known for its work overturning abortion rights in the US as well as opposing LGBT+ rights – and has made regular appearances on GB News and Talk TV.

Continued: https://archive.is/Eo0Mq
(https://www.thenational.scot/news/26017330.leading-anti-abortion-figure-standing-reform-uk-may-elections/)

13.04.2026

News

Alliance Defending Freedom

buffer zone laws

Gillian Mackay

Lois McLatchie Miller

Nigel Farage

Reform UK

safe access zones

Southern Poverty Law Center

Belgium – Ghent project improves access to emergency copper coils against unwanted pregnancies

13 April 2026

In Ghent, healthcare professionals and the city council have given a positive assessment of a pilot project that ensures women have rapid access to an emergency IUD (Intrauterine Device), also known as an emergency copper coil. This alternative to the morning-after pill is often overlooked, even though it is more reliable following unprotected sex. Since the project began in June 2025, more than 100 emergency IUDs have already been fitted in hospitals, GP practices and an abortion clinic.

Continued: https://www.belganewsagency.eu/ghent-project-improves-access-to-emergency-copper-coils-against-unwanted-pregnancies

13.04.2026

News

Astrid De Bruycker

emergency IUD

Ghent pilot project on IUDs

Belgium

Europe

Contraception

Thousands protest in Prague for and against abortion

April 11, 2026

Thousands of people have taken part in demonstrations on abortion rights in Prague. The participants in the annual "March for Life" marched through the city center after a service in the Catholic St. Vitus Cathedral. Hundreds of mainly young protesters gathered for a counter-demonstration under the slogan "Prague is feminist". They held up signs with texts such as "Women's rights are human rights" and "My body, my choice".

The police were on site with numerous forces to prevent clashes. Five people were temporarily arrested because they did not follow the officers' instructions, a spokesperson said. According to the CTK agency, the number of abortions in the Czech Republic has been falling for decades and stands at around 15,000 per year. Women can legally have an abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy without having to give a reason. Abortions for medical reasons can be legal up to the 24th week.

Source: https://www.bluewin.ch/en/news/international/thousands-protest-in-prague-for-and-against-abortion-3184934.html

11.04.2026

News

March for Life

pro-choice counter protest

Spanish government promotes abortion as a right

The Spanish Council of Ministers approves in second round the amendment of the Constitution to include abortion as a right.

Paloma López Campos
April 7, 2026

The Council of Ministers in Spain is moving towards constitutional reform, with the aim of protecting abortion as a right. On Tuesday, April 7, this body approved in the second round the modification of Article 43 of the Constitution. Constitution. This change implies the addition of a fourth paragraph to guarantee equal access to abortion in all regions of the country.

In order to carry out the reform, it is necessary that the Popular Party vote in favor of it. Should the proposal go ahead, Spain would become the second nation in the world to include the abortion as a right in its constitution. The first was France in 2024.

Continued: https://www.omnesmag.com/en/news/government-abortion-law-constitution-spain/

07.04.2026

News

enshrining abortion rights in constitution

Popular Party

Spanish Council of Ministers

Anti-abortion group active in Scotland withholds size of US funding

Apr 3, 2025
By James Walker

AN anti-abortion group active in Scotland has withheld details about the amount of US funding it receives.

The National previously revealed that ADF International – one of several groups which has actively looked to challenge Scotland’s abortion buffer zones legislation – received £1,119,975 in 2024 from its US parent entity Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), according to Companies House.

This represented a 281% increase in just two years, as it received £398,000 in 2022. Now, in newly published accounts, the organisation reveals that it has received £1,409,342 in total in 2025 – a hefty increase of over £150k.

Continued: https://archive.is/MAKTm
(https://www.thenational.scot/news/25992604.anti-abortion-group-active-scotland-withholds-size-us-funding/)

03.04.2026

News

ADF International

Alliance Defending Freedom

buffer zone law

Gillian Mackay

safe access zones

Southern Poverty Law Center

Europe

Scotland

Anti-choice

Netherlands – Abortion clinics report more attacks and intimidation

April 2, 2026

Abortion clinics in the Netherlands are reporting an increasing number of attacks as anti-abortion sentiment grows, the Telegraaf reported on Thursday.

“We used to get the odd nasty letter, and no one came to demonstrate at the clinic but since 2017, we have become a target,” Femke van Straaten, a director of abortion clinics in Amsterdam and Haarlem, told the paper. The incidents range from demonstrations near the clinic to being sent IS decapitation videos.

Continued: https://www.dutchnews.nl/2026/04/abortion-clinics-report-more-attacks-and-intimidation/

02.04.2026