Bristol abortion clinic praised for outstanding service

Staff there are caring, safe and empathetic, a new report says
Angus McIntyre

08 Jan 2026

An abortion clinic in Bristol has been rated 'outstanding' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the highest rating available.

The CQC ranked the MSI Reproductive Services Treatment Centre in Stoke Gifford outstanding overall and in three of five individually-assessed fields: safety, effectiveness and care. The clinic, which services patients across the South West, was rated 'good' in the responsiveness and leadership categories.

Continued; https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-abortion-clinic-praised-outstanding-10741707

08.01.2026

News

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Care Quality Commission

Debi Hammond

Emma May

MSI Reproductive Choices

‘Trojan horse moment’: anti-rights groups seize chance to fill void left by US aid cuts

Ultra-conservative Christian organisations look to reshape global health landscape as new aid agreements open door to demands restricting family planning services

Isabel Choat
Wed 17 Dec 2025

The sudden stop work order on USAID in January 2025 sent shock waves around the world. Many health clinics were immediately shut down, leaving millions without access to vital medicines and facilities, with potentially deadly consequences, especially for HIV patients, children, and women and adolescent girls.

To many, the subsequent axing of 83% of USAID programmes seemed like pure nihilism, engineered by ideologues who wanted to kill off the agency. But there was a long-term vision behind the destruction. The gutting of USAID has cleared a path for the next phase of a plan to reshape the global health landscape, say reproductive justice campaigners.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/17/trojan-horse-moment-anti-rights-groups-fill-void-us-aid-cuts

The worrying rise of US anti-abortion rhetoric is in full force – how deep is Reform UK’s involvement?

Money is pouring into anti-abortion campaigns in Britain, and it seems Nigel Farage’s party isn’t pushing back…

By Jennifer Savin
20 November 2025

There’s been a lot of talk recently suggesting that we need to keep a close eye on abortion rights here in the UK. With whisperings that what happened in America – the toppling of Roe v Wade, which left a 10-year-old denied an abortion – could happen here, especially if Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party makes it into power at the next election.

While nothing is guaranteed, it’s a scary thought – particularly as we made great strides with abortion care this year.

Continued: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a69468983/reform-uk-nigel-farage-abortion/

Ethiopia’s Fight Against Anti-Abortion Propaganda

How Ethiopians are resisting U.S.-backed disinformation on abortions.

By Maya Misikir, a reporter and editor based in Ethiopia.
November 13, 2025

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—It’s the faces of the women and girls receiving treatment for botched abortions that still haunt nurse Hanna, 47 years into her nursing career.

“They had a look in their eyes. It was a plea to be saved from their misery,” she said in Amharic, during an interview last month.

Continued: https://archive.is/RQ7rE
(https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/13/ethiopia-abortion-fight-propaganda-america-trump-pro-life/)

UK – Meet the people helping homeless women access abortions: ‘It’s about giving them the choice’

There is vital work being carried out by abortion services to give vulnerable women, including those who are facing homelessness, access to choice

Isabella McRae
17 Oct 2025

Women experiencing homelessness in the UK face multiple barriers to accessing abortion services – which may cause delays in terminating a pregnancy or other complications.

There is vital work being carried out by abortion providers and other healthcare organisations, in partnership with homelessness charities, to ensure that these women have the right to choice and can access an abortion safely.

Continued: https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/homeless-women-abortions/

17.10.2025

Commentary

Ailish McEntee

Alanah Cornelius

homeless women and abortion

MSI Reproductive Choices

UK – What is the truth about crisis pregnancy centres? The anti-abortion facilities creeping across Britain

Many faith-based crisis pregnancy centres are believed to offer an 'ethical' service, but there are some which have been found to be 'misleading' women. It is becoming increasingly difficult to tell which as centres may 'hide their ideological aims'

Isabella McRae
14 Oct 2025

Crisis pregnancy centres, which have been known to “misinform” women around abortion, have become increasingly “professionalised” in the UK and are often unregulated, experts have warned.

These centres are commonly run by Christian groups and promise to offer “impartial” and “ethical” advice for free, but some have been found to be promoting “medically inaccurate” information with an anti-abortion agenda which risks leaving women “traumatised”.

Continued: https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/abortion-uk-crisis-pregnancy-centres/

UK – Abortion is close to decriminalisation. But how quickly can rights and progress be rolled back?

More than 100 women are believed to have been arrested on suspicion of illegal abortion over the last five years in England and Wales, but a new law will offer greater protections. The Big Issue asks experts if rights could still be under threat

Isabella McRae
13 Oct 2025

Women have been prosecuted for having an abortion for centuries. Even in recent years, in this country, women suspected of an illegal abortion have been arrested straight from the hospital ward, their homes searched and their children taken away. But a new law set to be passed in England and Wales means that abortion is a step closer to decriminalisation.

Abortion was legalised in 1967, meaning women can have an abortion up to 23 weeks and six days of a pregnancy, provided two doctors agree it meets certain criteria. The laws which are currently used to prosecute women in England were created in the Victorian era.

Continued: https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/abortion-decriminalisation-womens-rights-uk/

Trump plans to block funding to groups that promote diversity policies abroad

The administration wants to expand a policy that already restricts U.S. funding to foreign groups that promote abortion access.

By Carmen Paun and Nahal Toosi

Oct 1, 2025

The Trump administration plans to block U.S. funding to organizations that do work abroad on issues related to gender identity and diversity, according to a U.S. official and nonprofit groups informed of the plan.

It’s a major expansion of the Mexico City Policy, which prevents foreign groups receiving U.S. global health funding from providing or promoting abortion, even if those programs are paid for with other sources of financing.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/01/trump-plans-block-funding-groups-promote-diversity-policies-abroad-00591078

01.10.2025

News

Beth Schlachter

Global Gag Rule

Global Health Council

Mexico City policy

MSI Reproductive Choices

The U.S. said it would burn $9.7 million of birth control. Its fate is still unclear

September 16, 2025
By Rachel Treisman

For months, $9.7 million worth of birth control meant for women in low-income countries has sat stranded in a Belgian warehouse — apparently destined for destruction — as a result of the Trump administration's freeze on foreign aid.

…Humanitarians' hopes were seemingly dashed last week, when the New York Times, citing a statement from USAID, reported that the contraceptives had been destroyed. But the next day, it later reported, Belgian authorities entered the warehouse and confirmed the contraceptives were still there.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/09/16/nx-s1-5511304/birth-control-foreign-aid-destruction-belgium-warehouse

The Trump administration’s destruction of contraceptives was both wasteful and cruel

U.S. officials had already spent nearly $10 million on contraceptives intended for low-income nations. They will never reach their intended target.

Sept. 12, 2025
By Steve Benen

Federal officials had already spent nearly $10 million on birth control pills, intrauterine devices and hormonal implants to be sent to low-income nations. As The New York Times reported, however, the products will never reach their intended destination — not because the beneficiaries no longer want the assistance, but because the Trump administration destroyed what U.S. taxpayers had already paid for.

The destruction of the millions of dollars’ worth of products itself cost roughly $167,000. The Times’ report noted that several international organizations, including the Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, had offered to buy or accept a donation of the contraceptives.

Continued: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-administrations-destruction-contraceptives-was-both-wasteful-cru-rcna230834

12.09.2025