UK – Diane Munday obituary

Pioneering abortion campaigner whose beliefs were underpinned by humanism

Penny Warren
Mon 2 Feb 2026

On 27 October the Abortion Act 1967 became law. It was a landmark piece of legislation and the hard-won result of years of campaigning by Diane Munday, who has died aged 94.

However, her glass was only half full. The law applied only to Great Britain, not to Northern Ireland, and it did not give women complete freedom to choose: two doctors were required to authorise the procedure. Speaking about that October night, Munday said: “The act was a compromise. Only when women had the power to decide for themselves would our task be fully done. At 3am we were sitting on the terrace drinking champagne. And I remember saying that it’s too soon to celebrate. We have done only half the job, so let’s drink half glasses of champagne.”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/02/diane-munday-obituary

02.02.2026

Abortion Act 1967

Abortion Law Reform Association

Birmingham Pregnancy Advisory Service

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

National Council of Women of Great Britain

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Vera Houghton

UK – ‘Women have to fight for what they want’: UK campaigner’s 60-year unfinished battle for abortion rights

Diane Munday helped secure legal terminations in 1967 and, aged 94, is still calling for wider reproductive rights

Hannah Al-Othman
5 Jan 2026

When the 1967 Abortion Act cleared parliament, marking one of the most significant steps forward for women’s rights in history, Diane Munday was among the campaigners raising a glass of champagne on the terrace of the House of Commons.

“I’m only drinking a half a glass,” she told her colleagues at the time, “because the job is only half done.”

And, she was right. “Fifty years later, women were still going to prison,” says Munday, who co-founded the British Pregnancy Advice Service. She was also a leading member of the Abortion Law Reform Association during the 1960s and 1970s and is a patron of Humanists UK.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/05/uk-campaigner-diane-munday-unfinished-battle-abortion-rights

UK – Reform ‘proudly embracing’ anti-abortion politics as experts warn issue faces US-style politicisation in UK

Athena Stavrou
Sun 28 September 2025

Campaigners have warned that Reform UK has become a “political refuge for anti-abortion politicians” amid fears Britain could experience a US-style politicisation of the issue.

Pro-choice activists have raised the alarm after several political figures who have previously called for greater restrictions on abortion defected to Nigel Farage’s party.”

Continued: https://au.news.yahoo.com/reform-proudly-embracing-anti-abortion-100056164.html

MPs debate decriminalising abortion in England and Wales

3 June, 2025
MPs yesterday debated decriminalising abortion following a public petition on the subject. The debate was led by All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group member Tony Vaughan MP. Humanists UK welcomes the debate and calls on MPs to back an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to take abortion out of the criminal code. This is likely to be voted on later this month.

The debate was called as the petition calling on the Government to decriminalise abortion received more than 100,000 signatures. It took place ahead of a proposed amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which seeks to remove women from the criminal law in relation ending their own pregnancies led by Tonia Antoniazzi MP and has the support of over 115 cross-party MPs and 50 pro-choice organisations including BPAS, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and Humanists UK. The amendment will not change abortion time limits or its provision in any way. If selected, the amendment will be voted on later this month.

Continued: https://humanists.uk/2025/06/03/mps-debate-decriminalising-abortion-in-england-and-wales/

‘Extreme’ US anti-abortion group ramps up lobbying in Westminster

The UK branch of the Alliance Defending Freedom has increased its spending and is forging ties with key MPs

Shanti Das, Home affairs correspondent
Sat 6 Apr 2024

A rightwing Christian lobby group that wants abortion to be banned has forged ties with an adviser to the prime minister and is drawing up policy briefings for politicians.

The UK branch of the US-based Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has more than doubled its spending since 2020 and been appointed a stakeholder in a parliamentary group on religious freedoms in a role that grants it direct access to MPs.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/06/extreme-us-anti-abortion-group-ramps-up-lobbying-in-westminster

Religious exemptions to abortion buffer zones law could ‘overturn will of Parliament’

18 January, 2024
Humanists UK

The UK Government has proposed draft guidance for Abortion Safe Access Zones that would effectively overturn the will of Parliament through expansive religious loopholes which would render the legislation incapable of protecting women from abuse and harassment.

In 2022 and 2023, in a resolute response to escalating harassment of women at the hands of evangelical protesters outside abortion clinics, the UK Parliament voted overwhelmingly to establish Safe Access Zones around abortion clinics in England and Wales. These zones were expressly intended to protect women from a barrage of bullying and psychological abuse as they sought access to clinics, ensuring their right to medical care in a safe and dignified environment.

Continued: https://humanists.uk/2024/01/18/religious-exemptions-to-abortion-buffer-zones-law-could-overturn-will-of-parliament/

House of Lords backs buffer zones for abortion clinics in England and Wales

The proposal now has one last step to go through before becoming law

BY CARA ROGERS
1 FEB 2023

'Buffer zones' around abortion clinics in England and Wales are closer to becoming a reality following overwhelming support from the House of Lords in a debate, which took place on 30 January. The proposed legislation now has one last step to go before being passed – final approval from the House of Commons.

The proposed provision for buffer zones is an amendment to the Public Order Bill, which was added by Labour MP for Walthamstow, Stella Creasy.

Continued: https://www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/health/female-health/a42722555/house-of-lords-buffer-zones-abortion/

UK – Senior Tory urges Liz Truss to explain deletion of abortion rights from statement

Exclusive: Equalities committee chair Caroline Nokes joins international outcry after UK dilutes commitment to women’s rights without consultation

Lizzy Davies
Wed 27 Jul 2022

A senior Conservative MP has asked the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, to explain why the UK government appeared to perform a “sudden backtracking on women’s rights” after commitments to abortion and sexual health rights were removed from an official multi-nation statement on gender equality.

Caroline Nokes, who chairs the women and equalities select committee, has written to Truss, who is also the minister for women and equalities and a Tory leadership contender, asking why the key phrases relating to reproductive rights were deleted.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jul/27/senior-tory-urges-liz-truss-to-explain-deletion-of-abortion-rights-from-statement-caroline-nokes

27.07.2022

UK under international pressure over deletion of abortion commitments

Exclusive: open letter sent to Liz Truss after removal of commitment to repeal laws threatening women and girls’ rights from global pact

Lizzy Davies
Fri 22 Jul 2022

The UK government is coming under growing pressure from European countries and human rights groups to explain why commitments to abortion and sexual health rights have been removed from an official statement on gender equality.

Norway and Denmark have approached the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) “to protest against the substantive changes” that were made to a paper that resulted from a UK-hosted conference on freedom of religion and belief, opened by Liz Truss earlier this month, the Guardian has learned.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jul/22/european-countries-pressurise-uk-over-removal-of-abortion-commitments-liz-truss

US Donors Are Helping Push Anti-Abortion Agendas in British Schools

A British anti-abortion group that gives talks in schools has received over £72,000 from the US over the last 2 years, VICE World News can reveal.

By Sophia Smith Galer
May 30, 2022

An anti-abortion group in the UK that gives talks to schoolchildren and medical professionals about what it terms “coerced abortion” is receiving tens of thousands of dollars from anonymous US-based backers, VICE World News can reveal.

Nearly £73,000 ($91,885, €85,330) has been donated anonymously via a donor agency called NPT Transatlantic in the past two years to the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child’s (SPUC) registered charity, one of the UK’s most active anti-abortion groups. The agency allows US and UK taxpayers to donate to organisations across the Atlantic without revealing their name and without qualifying for any tax deduction.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/93be83/anti-abortion-schools-uk