UK anti-abortion charity with links to MPs ran misleading Facebook ads

Right to Life UK boosted its spend on the social media platform tenfold in three years

Sian Norris and Manasa Narayanan
Sat 16 Dec 2023

A leading UK anti-abortion charity with ties to MPs and peers has increased its Facebook advertising spend more than tenfold in three years, spending nearly £190,000 on advertising campaigns.

In a joint investigation, the Observer and the Citizens analysed the spend and content of hundreds of Facebook ads paid for by Right to Life UK between June 2020 and November 2023. The findings reveal the charity – which provides the secretariat for the Pro-Life All Party Parliamentary Group – spent an average of £117,000 in 2023, an increase from an average £11,400 in 2020, £16,900 in 2021 and £43,600 in 2022.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/16/anti-abortion-charity-misleading-facebook-ads-mps-right-to-life-uk

‘This Victorian-era law isn’t fit for purpose’: Is abortion finally going to be decriminalised?

People who get an abortion beyond legal time limits can face criminal prosecution in England and Wales. Labour MPs are out to change that

CHARLOTTE ELTON
2 Dec 2023

Abortion could soon be decriminalised in England and Wales, as MPs consider overhauling a “cruel” 162-year-old law.

People who get an abortion beyond legal time limits can face criminal prosecution in England and Wales.

Five women have faced this charge in English courts over the past year – up from four in total over the previous 55 years.

Continued: https://www.bigissue.com/life/health/abortion-law-decriminalised-england-wales/

UK – Judge’s reduction of sentence for abortion shows how law must change, say campaigners

Legislation that led to Carla Foster being jailed after procuring pills for a termination said to be ‘antiquated’

Alexandra Topping
Tue 18 Jul 2023

Prosecutors have been urged to heed a judge’s call for “compassion, not punishment” after the court of appeal halved a woman’s sentence for terminating her pregnancy beyond the legal time limit.

Carla Foster, 45, was sentenced to more than two years in prison after she admitted illegally procuring her own abortion when she was between seven and eight months pregnant.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/18/judges-reduction-of-sentence-for-abortion-shows-how-law-must-change-say-campaigners

UK – Woman jailed for illegally obtaining tablets to end her pregnancy set to be released

The 45-year-old U.K. mother of three was handed a 28-month sentence after she admitted to obtaining abortion pills to induce a miscarriage when she was 32 to 34 weeks pregnant

The Associated Press, Sylvia Hui
Jul 18, 2023

A woman who was jailed for illegally obtaining abortion tablets to end her advanced pregnancy will be released from prison after Britain’s Court of Appeal reduced her sentence Tuesday.

Carla Foster, a 45-year-old mother of three, was handed a 28-month sentence last month after she admitted to obtaining abortion pills to induce a miscarriage when she was 32 to 34 weeks pregnant in 2020.

Continued: https://calgaryherald.com/news/a-uk-woman-jailed-for-obtaining-tablets-to-end-her-pregnancy-is-to-be-released-after-appeal

18.07.2023

News

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Carla Foster

Clare Murphy

Judge Victoria Sharp

prosecuting women for abortion

UK – Senior Tory MP seeks abortion law rethink after mother jailed

June 13, 2023
By Jasmine Andersson & Sean Seddon, BBC News

Parliament should debate overhauling abortion rules after a woman was jailed, the chair of the Commons equalities committee has said. Caroline Nokes MP told the BBC the 1861 law used to prosecute mother-of-three Carla Foster was "out of date".

The 44-year-old was convicted of inducing an abortion outside the legal limit using pills at home. Campaigners urged reform after she received a sentence of 28 months, 14 of which will be spent in custody.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65886472

Outrage at jail sentence for woman who took abortion pills later than UK limit

Mitigation plea signed by medical groups was sent to judge, while BPAS chief executive said sentence was ‘shocking and appalling’

Tobi Thomas
Mon 12 Jun 2023

Campaigners and MPs have reacted with outrage to a woman being sentenced to more than two years in prison for procuring drugs to induce an abortion after the legal limit.

The mother of three received the medication under the “pills by post” scheme, which was introduced during the Covid pandemic for unwanted pregnancies up to 10 weeks, after a remote consultation.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/12/woman-in-uk-jailed-for-28-months-over-taking-abortion-pills-after-legal-time-limit

UK – ‘Extortionate’ childcare costs pushing women to have abortions as terminations rise to record levels

Exclusive: Six in 10 women who have had an abortion said the cost of childcare put them off pregnancy

Maya Oppenheim, Women’s Correspondent
May 29, 2023

A woman who had an abortion because she couldn’t afford another child is one of a growing number of parents terminating pregnancies because of financial pressures.

Leila*, a mother-of-one who works in the financial industry, told The Independent the staggering cost of childcare was one of the main drivers behind her decision to end her pregnancy in April 2021.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/abortions-childcare-costs-nursery-fees-b2298246.html

29.05.2023

News

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

MSI Reproductive Choices UK

Pregnant Then Screwed

Sylvia Anna

Europe

United Kingdom

UK facing crisis point in abortion provision, experts say

Women said to be travelling hundreds of miles for appointments or waiting several weeks

Lucy Hough and Hannah Moore
Thu 26 Jan 2023

The UK is facing a “crisis point” in abortion provision, experts say, with rising demand and restricted access to care in many areas putting unprecedented pressure on struggling NHS services.

Healthcare professionals described a “terrifying” state of affairs in which women are travelling hundreds of miles for appointments or waiting several weeks before they are seen.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/26/uk-facing-crisis-point-in-abortion-provision-experts-say

26.01.2023