Sep 10, 2026
Alisa Berry Ryan, Abortion Rights Campaign
If you were with us in Parliament Square on Saturday, you saw exactly what we are up against.
Every year, anti abortion campaigners tell us their movement is about compassion. They talk about “protecting women”, supporting families and defending life.
But the reality we saw on Saturday looked very different.
01 Sep 2026
Alisa Berry Ryan, Abortion Rights Campaign
Abortion Rights warns that anti-abortion politics is being pushed further into the British mainstream as Reform UK hosts anti-abortion campaigners at its party conference this week.
This weekend, on Saturday 5 September, pro-choice campaigners, trade unions, MPs and healthcare organisations will gather in Parliament Square for Stand Up for Choice, Abortion Rights’ annual counter-protest to March for Life UK.
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/
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.
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/
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/)
Lib Dems accuse Reform leader of wanting to water down women’s rights after reports of help from advocacy group
Rowena Mason
Thu 16 Oct 2025
Nigel Farage has been urged to explain why a US anti-abortion advocacy group helped arrange a meeting in London with Trump administration officials and diplomats.
The meeting, first reported by the New York Times, took place in March between Farage and a delegation from Trump’s state department, which it said was overseen by the US embassy and brokered by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) group. The meeting was said to have discussed abortion rights, free speech and online safety laws.
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/
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
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.
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