Jersey – Abortion limit could be increased to 21 weeks

by Christie Bailey
24 March 2025

THE legal abortion limit in Jersey could rise to 21 weeks. However, terminations after 12 weeks will still not be widely available in the Island because there are “not currently” the facilities and skills required to “safely deliver later-stage terminations”, according to a recently launched consultation.

Proposed changes to Jersey’s Termination of Pregnancy Law were recently set out in the consultation inviting Islanders to give feedback.

Continued: https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2025/03/24/abortion-limit-could-be-increased-to-21-weeks/

24.03.2025

Jersey’s Termination of Pregnancy Law

Scotland – Police decline to intervene as anti-abortion group ignores buffer zone

March 23, 2025
By Xander Elliards

POLICE did not respond after being called to a fringe group of anti-abortion protesters who were breaching Scotland’s buffer zone regulations.

The Scottish Family Party – who, as well as wanting to see abortion rights rolled back, oppose same-sex marriage, sperm and egg donation, and the clause banning harassment in the Equality Act – held a small-scale protest outside the public entrance to the Chalmers Centre in Edinburgh on Saturday evening.

Continued: https://www.thenational.scot/news/25030333.police-decline-intervene-anti-abortion-group-ignores-buffer-zone/

UK – Basingstoke council debates decriminalisation of abortion

22nd March, 2025
By Lola Crossman

COUNCILLORS have pledged to support women and girls in Basingstoke and Deane after passing a motion to help residents under threat of criminalisation from abortion.

Cllr Stacy Hart, the first Women's Equality borough councillor before the party's closure in 2024, proposed a motion calling for BDBC to support residents 'under threat of criminalisation following abortion or pregnancy loss'.

Continued: https://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/25028334.basingstoke-council-debates-decriminalisation-abortion/

22.03.2025

News

Basingstoke Council and abortion

criminalisation of abortion

In the name of the family: Yes, Europe could be headed for a ‘Project 2025’ too

In almost every election in Europe in recent years, a discreet but increasingly powerful force has been at play to help bolster the far right. Much like the architects behind “Project 2025”, a set of ultra-conservative networks are waging a campaign to dismantle progressive European policies and replace them with traditionalist Christian values – leaving little room for feminists, LGBTQ+ activists and other marginalised groups.

Issued on: 21/03/2025
By: Louise NORDSTROM

In the summer of 2017, a peculiar document was leaked and published on the whistle-blowing platform WikiLeaks. The secret document, labelled “Restoring the Natural Order: an Agenda for Europe”, outlined a detailed strategy on how to roll back progressive legislation including the right to divorce, women’s access to contraception and abortion, and equal rights for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Behind the manifesto was a vast transatlantic network of more than 100 hard-line Catholic groups in 30 countries from all over the world called “Agenda Europe”.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20250321-in-the-name-of-the-family-yes-europe-could-be-headed-project-2025-too-lgbtq-trump-far-right-heritage-foundation

Northern Ireland – Retired pastor denies illegal protest at abortion safe access zone in Coleraine

Clive Johnston disputes the charges on a devolution point and under the European Convention on Human Rights

Paul Higgins
Fri Mar 21 2025

A retired church pastor on Friday denied conducting an illegal protest at an abortion safe access zone in a Coleraine hospital.

Appearing on behalf of Clive Johnston at Coleraine Magistrates Court, defence counsel Aaron Thompson entered pleas of not guilty to the two charges on behalf of the 76-year-old retired pastor, revealing that the defendant disputes the charges on a devolution point and under article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2025/03/21/retired-pastor-denies-illegal-protest-at-abortion-safe-access-zone-in-coleraine/

UK – Woman’s abortion delayed partly due to NHS ‘annual leave’

March 19, 2025
Gemma Dunstan, BBC News

The judge highlighted the court's "disapproval" of the health board's conduct and the impact on the woman and her family. A vulnerable woman almost missed the legal cut-off point for an abortion partly because of annual leave at a health board, a court heard.

The mother of the woman, who has been sectioned a number of times, told a court she was "traumatised" by the "barbaric" treatment of her daughter as she watched her continue her pregnancy into the second trimester.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3rn357p0dvo

19.03.2025

News

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board

Judge Butler-Cole

NHS

oyal Courts of Justice

Europe

United Kingdom

Health

Court upholds Polish mayor’s decision to dissolve anti-abortion protest over image of foetus

Mar 17, 2025
Notes from Poland

A court has upheld a decision by the city of Toruń to dissolve an anti-abortion protest because it featured a graphic image purporting to show an aborted foetus.

The organiser of the protest has condemned the ruling, which she says “violates the constitution, the law, freedom of speech and freedom of religion”.

But the city’s mayor welcomed the court’s decision, saying that, while he supports free speech, it must be expressed in a manner consistent with the law and without violating the dignity of others.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2025/03/17/court-upholds-polish-mayors-decision-to-dissolve-anti-abortion-protest-over-image-of-foetus/

17.03.2025

News

Agnieszka Szumilas-HermanowiczOrdo Iuris

anti-choice lies

anti-choice propaganda

anti-choice protesters

Bartosz Malewski

graphic images of aborted fetuses

Abortion Tourism On The Rise In Russia As Regions Adopt Different Policies – Analysis

March 17, 2025
By Paul Goble

Moscow has not instilled a country-wide abortion ban, a move that would spark criticism in politically-sensitive and sizable population centers such as Moscow and St. Petersburg. Instead of a ban, the government has supported actions by federal subjects to restrict access to abortions, ensuring a difficult process that varies across the regions.

This array of regulations has caused abortions to be difficult to access in some regions and easier in others. This in turn has led to the emergence and growth of abortion tourism as women travel from abortion-restricted regions to others, or even abroad, where it is easier to access (Novaya Gazeta Europe, February 7; Veter, March 6). Using this approach, the Kremlin seeks to retain power while shifting responsibility for these restrictions onto individual regions, much as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic (see EDM, April 27, 2020). Such an approach, however, may backfire by lessening Moscow’s authority and demonstrating to citizens that laws can be bypassed.

Continued: https://www.eurasiareview.com/17032025-abortion-tourism-on-the-rise-in-russia-as-regions-adopt-different-policies-analysis/

17.03.2025

News

abortion tourism

Foundation for Emergency Contraception

Malta – ‘Blanket Ban’: stories of silent suffering

A hard-hitting protest play about Malta’s controversial ban on abortions

Giulia Magri
Mar 16, 2025

Living in a country with one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the world, the topic is often the elephant in the room on this sunny island. As a journalist, I’ve reported countless abortion debates, which ultimately transform into ugly shouting matches, and attended demonstrations from both camps. One moment I’m reporting speeches on the need to decriminalise abortion, then, on the flip side, speeches on how life starts in the womb.

Time and again, I’ve seen politicians tiptoeing around the taboo topic, yet what the public and I rarely hear are the voices of the women who find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place: women, daughters, mothers, wives who face the tough decision of having an abortion and carrying that decision in silence and shame.

Continued: https://timesofmalta.com/article/blanket-ban-stories-silent-suffering.1106537

16.03.2025

Polish presidential frontrunner pledges to sign bills on contraception, Silesian and constitutional court

Mar 15, 2025
Notes from Poland

Rafał Trzaskowski, the presidential candidate of Poland’s main ruling party, says that, if he wins the election, the first bills he would want to sign would be to allow prescription-free access to the morning-after pill, recognise Silesian as a regional language, and overhaul the constitutional court.

Those bills have been blocked by current President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party. Trzaskowski says that he also wants to sign “as soon as possible” a bill liberalising the abortion law, though the ruling coalition has not yet managed to pass one.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2025/03/15/polish-presidential-frontrunner-pledges-to-sign-bills-on-contraception-silesian-and-constitutional-court/

15.03.2025