America’s abortion wars: inside the clinic on the front line

Since the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022, abortion is illegal in 13 US states. New Mexico has become the nearest place for many women to terminate a pregnancy — if they can get past the religious activists on a mission to change their minds

George Grylls
Friday January 16 2026

Haley Nathan, 19, writes down the details of women’s cars on a clipboard outside an abortion clinic in New Mexico, braced for the day ahead. New Mexico is the closest option for any Texan woman to receive an abortion since the overturning of Roe v Wade in June 2022.

She’s frequently yelled at, or shown the middle finger. “I try not to let it bother me because it’s gonna affect my performance on the sidewalk,” says Nathan, a young intern, fixated on the clinic’s door as she prepares herself for the hostility coming her way. “I like to say it’s not me who’s doing the work. It’s God in me. I step out, God steps in.”

Continued: https://archive.is/6FX9Y
(https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/abortion-roe-v-wade-h2j7j9lm9)

SCOTLAND – Research into protests and vigils that take place outside clinics and hospitals offering abortion care

8 August 2025
From Minister for Public Health and Women's Health, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

Chapter one: Introduction
This research was conducted by Rocket Science on behalf of the Scottish Government. Rocket Science are an independent research and evaluation organisation who were commissioned to examine the prevalence, scale and impact of protests and vigils taking place outside of healthcare facilities that offer abortion care in Scotland. Specifically, the research was undertaken to:

examine the prevalence, frequency and scale of vigils and protests which occur outside of healthcare facilities providing abortions

explore the impact of vigils and protests on patients’ ability to, and experiences of, accessing abortion services in Scotland.

understand the perspectives and motivations of those involved in protests and/or vigils.

Continued: https://www.gov.scot/publications/research-protests-vigils-take-place-outside-clinics-hospitals-offering-abortion-care/

08.08.2025

Research

anti-choice harassment

anti-choice intimidation

anti-choice protesters

anti-choice protests

anti-choice vigils

buffer zones

impacts of protesters

Russian convent hands out plastic fetuses to women in anti-abortion campaign

July 30, 2025

A convent in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk recently organized a campaign of handing out plastic fetuses to local women in an effort to discourage abortions, according to the independent outlet 7×7.

The initiative was held in shopping centers, libraries, at city festivals, and on university campuses. Volunteers and activists from the Odigitrievsky Convent claimed afterwards that their efforts had “saved 658 lives,” a local Telegram news channel reported.

Continued: https://meduza.io/en/news/2025/07/30/russian-convent-hands-out-plastic-fetuses-to-women-in-anti-abortion-campaign

30.07.2025

News

anti-choice harassment

anti-choice intimidation

anti-choice misogyny

anti-choice violence

Odigitrievsky Convent

religion and abortion

Russia

Anti-choice

USA – Amid Rise in Anti-Abortion Activism, Clinic Protections Are More Needed Than Ever

How abortion clinic staff and volunteers are working to protect patients as the anti-abortion movement mobilizes against providers.

by Eleanor J. Bader
July 23, 2025

Fifteen years ago, when Eileen learned that anti-abortion protesters were jeering at people entering Equality Health Center in Concord, New Hampshire, she decided to take action to ensure patients’ security in her city.

Eileen, who asked that her last name be withheld to protect her privacy, has been a clinic escort ever since, walking patients into the building, listening to their stories, and doing what she can to distract them from anti-choice taunts. “I can’t abide injustice or inequality,” she tells The Progressive. “Escorting is highly emotional work, but I feel privileged to be able to help. As escorts, we put our bodies on the line and make a real difference.”

Continued: https://progressive.org/latest/anti-abortion-activism-clinic-protections/

23.07.2025

Commentary

Alliance Defending Freedom

anti-choice cruelty

anti-choice harassment

anti-choice hatred

anti-choice intimidation

anti-choice misogyny

anti-choice protesters

anti-choice terrorism

anti-choice violence

Center for Medical Progress

Choices Women’s Medical Center

clinic escorts

crisis pregnancy centers

duVergne Gaines

Eleanor Bader

FACE Act

Feminist Majority Foundation

Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act

National Abortion Federation

National Clinic Access Project

Progressive Anti-Abortion uprising

A powerful and coordinated movement against human rights is growing in the UK

July 9, 2025
Amnesty International UK

A powerful anti-rights movement is growing in the UK, threatening to roll back our hard-won freedoms and rewrite the rules on whose rights, bodies and lives deserve protection.

Our groundbreaking analysis has uncovered a rapidly expanding network of organisations working to undermine human rights protections, targeting reproductive freedoms, LGBTI rights and promoting dangerous practices such as so-called "conversion therapy".

This threat is real, organised and growing. But we see their game, and we won’t stand for it.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/anti-rights

Edmonton to consider mandating envelopes, warnings for graphic flyers

Anti-abortion groups say they have the right to freedom of expression

Madeleine Cummings · CBC News
Jul 04, 2025

Edmonton's city council will consider adding restrictions aimed at preventing people from unwittingly seeing flyers with graphic imagery.

Ward Dene Coun. Aaron Paquette introduced a motion during Wednesday's city council meeting that administration prepare changes to the community standards bylaw to require all unsolicited print material containing graphic images to be contained in a sealed opaque envelope with a content warning and senders' names and addresses.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-city-council-graphic-flyers-bylaw-1.7576851

Edinburgh abortion clinic set for fresh round of harassment from US religious group – despite buffer zone laws

Ruth Suter & Chloe Goodall
Fri 4 July 2025

An Edinburgh clinic is set to endure a fresh round of anti-abortion harassment from an American religious group despite new laws designed to prevent protests taking place near clinics.

The Texas-based group, 40 Days for Life, announced online that it will hold a series of "prayer vigils" near Chalmers Clinic in September. The activity is expected to last for 40 days and will commence from September 24 with the last "vigil" to take place on November 2.

Continued: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/edinburgh-abortion-clinic-set-fresh-180623994.html

‘I’m an abortion nurse – I hold out hope UK won’t follow America’s draconian path’

At a time of progression and regression in the field of women's reproductive rights, abortion clinic nurse Kendall Robbins has shed light on what goes into her daily work, including the challenges and misconceptions she's come up against

Julia Banim
28 Jun 2025

Last week, Adriana Smith, a brain-dead woman whose decomposing body was kept alive so her baby could be born, was finally taken off life support. The newborn, named Chance, weighed just 1 lb 13oz. It was a case that has shocked those already repulsed by the controversial reversal of Roe vs Wade in the US, a move that has already resulted in women dying after being denied life-saving care.

…But could we see such horror stories unfolding in the UK in the not-too-distant future? Advanced practice development nurse Kendall Robbins, who deals with the realities of terminations on a daily basis, thinks not.

Continued: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/im-abortion-nurse-hold-out-35449310

Abortion clinic staff feel ‘abandoned’, says charity

14 June 2025

Staff at an abortion clinic feel "abandoned" by police because no-one has been prosecuted following more than 40 reports of alleged criminal damage to their vehicles, a charity has said.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) runs the clinic in Ophir Road, Bournemouth, which anti-abortion protesters had stationed themselves outside of before a council order was implemented in 2022.

The clinic was brought to international attention when US Vice President JD Vance raised concerns over the prosecution of a man who breached a protection zone around it.

Contiuned: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7872evvyeyo.amp

Trump’s DOJ Has Put Reproductive Health Clinics Under Threat

With the administration’s refusal to enforce a key law for protecting clinics, abortion providers are bracing for increased disruptions.

Grace Segers
May 29, 2025

Calla Hayes, the executive director of A Preferred Women’s Health Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, is used to protesters. The clinic sees thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators outside of its doors each year; the same group of faces greets her each day.

But in the months since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, she’s seen a change in their behavior. Hayes believes that turnover in the White House, along with the Supreme Court decision nullifying Roe v. Wade in 2022, has emboldened the activists outside her clinic’s doors to start “pushing boundaries.”

Continued: https://newrepublic.com/article/195810/abortion-providers-threats-trump-administration