How US groups are driving a new generation of anti-abortion activism in the UK

March 15, 2026

For 21-year-old John Alexander, being against abortion came before finding faith. As a teenager at school in Buckinghamshire, he was confused as to why most of his peers supported access to abortion. On social media he argued vocally against it.

Then, shortly after the pandemic, he became more interested in Christianity. He was raised in the Church of England (CofE), but thought the denomination was "dry" and involved "people sitting in pews not doing much". He was inspired by the young pastor at a Pentecostal Church which discussed social issues like abortion more than CofE churches, he says. He also watched social media videos of street preachers.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2dl5j0w23o

London anti-abortion march fuelled by US ‘hate group’

Over half of speakers on London’s March for Life’s programme have links with US Christian right group Alliance Defending Freedom.

By Alice McCool
Sep 5, 2025

A major anti-abortion march taking place in London this week is being heavily influenced by US Christian right group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), raising concerns about the import of anti-gender fundamentalism to the UK.

Good Law Project can reveal that over half of the speakers in London’s March for Life 2025 itinerary have direct links to ADF, an Arizona-based Christian legal organisation that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as an “anti-LGBTQ+ hate group”.

Continued: https://goodlawproject.org/london-anti-abortion-march-fuelled-by-us-hate-group/

UK – US Christian conservative groups escalate support for UK anti-abortion protesters

Phoebe Davis

Saturday 16 August 2025

Network of well-funded bodies backs cases in UK after JD Vance’s challenge on buffer zones outside abortion clinics

The Trump administration has warned the UK that “buffer zones” that criminalise protest outside abortion clinics represent an “egregious violation” of free speech and threaten the “shared values that underpin US-UK relations”.

The US escalation in intervening in the prosecution of British anti-abortion protesters comes after the White House took the highly unusual step of criticising the UK for a “worsening” human rights situation, citing “safe access zones” around clinics as an area of concern.

Continued: https://observer.co.uk/news/international/article/us-christian-conservative-groups-escalate-support-for-uk-anti-abortion-protesters

UK – JD Vance may disagree, but this anti-abortion activist isn’t a brutally censored dissident

The US vice-president’s avid concern for Livia Tossici-Bolt’s conviction is plain sinister
Catherine Bennett
Sun 6 Apr 2025

You know the feeling: you’re feeling sociable, why wouldn’t you make a sign saying “Here to talk, if you want to”, and head for a spot outside the nearest abortion clinic? And why wouldn’t some of its arriving patients want to pause before their appointments and satisfy your entirely innocent interest in their reproductive intentions?

This, give or take, amounted to the case by the prominent anti-abortion campaigner, Livia Tossici-Bolt, who was on Friday found guilty of twice breaching a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO). Her sign-holding outside a Bournemouth abortion clinic was, she had argued, not covered by a council-imposed safe zone, being “a mere invitation to speak”. And thus an invitation she could have happily extended to strangers just a little further from the clinic. But that did not suit Tossici-Bolt’s purpose. Nor does anything prevent her from staging anti-abortion rallies, distributing literature, or expressing her views on abortion anywhere except right in abortion patients’ faces outside clinics. These details, although similar regulations exist in parts of the US, routinely fail to surface in accounts by her prominent US supporters, with whose help Tossici-Bolt has been misrepresenting the illegal undermining of UK women’s reproductive rights as a noble quest for free speech.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/06/jd-vance-may-disagree-but-this-anti-abortion-activist-isnt-a-brutally-censored-dissident-livia-tossici-bolt

UK – Campaigner defiant over abortion clinic breach

Apr 5, 2025
BBC

A woman convicted of breaching an abortion clinic protection zone has said she will continue her "fight for free speech".

Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64, was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £20,000 for two charges of breaking a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO). The anti-abortion campaigner held a sign reading "Here to talk, if you want" outside a clinic in Bournemouth on two days in March 2023.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxnz7171yno

05.04.2025

News

Alliance Defending Freedom

anti-choice harassment

anti-choice protesters

buffer zone

Livia Tossici-Bolt

Public Spaces Protection Order

UK – Retired scientist prosecuted for holding up ‘here to talk’ sign outside abortion clinic

Former medical researcher accused of breaching ‘buffer zone’ and public space protection order when attending clinic

Charles Hymas
9 March 2024

A retired medical scientist is being prosecuted in a free speech test case after holding up a sign near an abortion clinic saying: “Here to talk if you want to.”

Livia Tossici-Bolt, 62, who worked at Southampton’s University Hospital Trust as a medical researcher, has been accused of breaching a “buffer zone” when she attended the abortion clinic in Bournemouth.

Continued: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/09/retired-scientist-free-speech-case-abortion-clinic/

09.03.2024