UK – Don’t be shocked by Makerfield candidate’s sexism. This is Reform

openDemocracy and the Fuller Project exposed Reform’s growing anti-abortion rhetoric. Its candidate’s comments proved our case.

By Sian Norris
May 27, 2026

“Abortion is the cowardly act of murdering a defenceless baby,” reads one post on the now-deleted X account of Robert Kenyon, Reform UK’s candidate for the Makerfield by-election.

… The revelations about Kenyon’s alleged anti-abortion social media activity, published in the Observer, come after openDemocracy and the Fuller Project revealed Reform’s growing antagonism towards abortion rights.

We found a 40% increase in abortion mentions by nearly 80 Reform politicians, supporters, hard-right news websites and far-right influencers over the past two years, as well as an uptick in pro-Reform accounts sharing anti-abortion disinformation and emotive language.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/dont-be-shocked-by-makerfield-candidates-sexism-this-is-reform/

Reform UK back candidate who called abortion ‘cowardly act of murder’

May 24, 2026
By Xander Elliards

REFORM UK have defended a by-election candidate who called abortion a “cowardly act of murdering a defenceless baby” and suggested that women lie about being raped to justify it.

Robert Kenyon, who is standing against Labour’s Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election, made the comments on now-closed down social media accounts, The Observer reported.

Continued; https://www.thenational.scot/news/26135333.reform-uk-back-candidate-called-abortion-cowardly-act-murder/

24.05.2026

Abortion is becoming a new front in Reform UK’s culture war

Following abortion decriminalisation, analysis from openDemocracy and the Fuller Project reveals the UK far right is pushing anti-abortion talking points into mainstream political debate.

By Sian Norris
May 20, 2026

Data analysed by The Fuller Project and openDemocracy reveal that British far-right political parties and influencers – including Reform UK – are taking inspiration from the United States and seeking to turn abortion into a new front in the culture wars.

At a time when Nigel Farage’s party has made sweeping gains in the local elections, our analysis of almost 80 Reform, Reform-supporting, and far-right X accounts found that between April 2024 and April 2026, mentions of abortion increased by 40% compared to the previous two years. This is despite a new law coming into force at the end of April 2026 which prevents women in England and Wales from facing a criminal investigation for having an abortion, and despite high public support for abortion across the UK.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/aabortion-reform-uk-politics-birth-decriminalization-farage/

Scotland – Leading anti-abortion figure standing for Reform UK in May elections

April 13, 2026
By Steph Brawn

A WARNING that reproductive rights "are not safe" with Reform UK has been issued after it emerged a leading anti-abortion figure is standing for the party in England's local elections. Lois McLatchie Miller is standing for Nigel Farage's party in the affluent London area of Maida Vale next month.

McLatchie Miller has worked for years for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) – a Christian group known for its work overturning abortion rights in the US as well as opposing LGBT+ rights – and has made regular appearances on GB News and Talk TV.

Continued: https://archive.is/Eo0Mq
(https://www.thenational.scot/news/26017330.leading-anti-abortion-figure-standing-reform-uk-may-elections/)

13.04.2026

News

Alliance Defending Freedom

buffer zone laws

Gillian Mackay

Lois McLatchie Miller

Nigel Farage

Reform UK

safe access zones

Southern Poverty Law Center

UK – Does Nigel Farage have a problem with women?

Critics link Farage’s ‘Trump-lite’ condescension to female journalists to Reform’s moves against women’s rights

Alexandra Topping
Sat 21 Feb 2026

When Nigel Farage told a journalist this week she should “write some silly story … and we won’t bother to read it”, it provoked an instant – and divided – reaction. For some it was a “masterclass” in dealing with mainstream media, but for others it was “rude, dismissive, misogynistic, arrogant”.

Behind the scenes, Farage’s treatment of the Financial Times’s Anna Gross – which was met with mirth and applause among Reform diehards in the room – provoked disquiet and anger among lobby journalists across the political spectrum.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/21/nigel-farage-women-problem-trump-style-provocation-prejudice

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

Inside the right-wing push against abortion rights in Scotland

Nov 30, 2025
By James Walker

A RECENT review of Scotland's abortion laws led to widespread right-wing outrage last week. One clip that went particularly viral was a GB News segment featuring Lois McLatchie Miller, who works for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

“The Scottish Government have commissioned a report to suggest that they allow abortion all the way up to birth for most social reasons,” she told the broadcaster’s presenters.

Continued: https://archive.is/lcmwa
(https://www.thenational.scot/news/25659692.inside-right-wing-push-abortion-rights-scotland/)

Is British politics immune to US-style rightwing Christianity? We’re about to find out

Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson are increasingly espousing Christian ‘values’, and a wealthy US legal group is becoming influential – this could have dire consequences

Lamorna Ash
Tue 25 Nov 2025

Earlier this year, not long after Tommy Robinson embraced evangelical Christianity while in prison, the then Conservative MP Danny Kruger spoke in parliament about the need for a restoration of Britain through the “recovery of a Christian politics”. Less than two months later, Kruger joined Reform, and shortly after that, James Orr, a vociferously conservative theologian who has been described as JD Vance’s “English philosopher king”, was appointed as one of Reform’s senior advisers. The party’s leader, Nigel Farage, now frequently invokes the need for a return to “Judeo-Christian” values.

The British right is increasingly invoking the Christian tradition: the question is what it hopes to gain from doing so.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2025/nov/25/british-politics-us-rightwing-christianity-nigel-farage-tommy-robinson-adf

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/

UK – Nigel Farage appoints right-wing anti-abortion theologian as Reform senior adviser

Professor James Orr is understood to be close to JD Vance and influential in Donald Trump’s administration with his right-wing views on abortion and immigration

David Maddox
Sunday 19 October

Reform has been accused of “importing divisive and dangerous ideas” from Maga politics in the US after a right-wing theologian who opposes abortion in all cases joined the party as Nigel Farage’s adviser.

Cambridge University professor James Orr, who heads the Centre for a Better Britain think tank, is an influential figure in Donald Trump’s administration and is admired by vice-president JD Vance.

Continued: https://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/politics/farage-james-orr-rightwing-theologian-reform-b2848126.html

19.10.2025