January 29, 2026
Tom Edwards
A woman has pleaded not guilty to a public order offence after being accused of silently praying outside an abortion clinic in Birmingham.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, 48, from Malvern in Worcestershire, is the first person in England and Wales to be charged under new "buffer zone" legislation which came into force in October 2024 and restricts some activities near abortion facilities.
Friday, 19 December 2025
Plans to create legally mandated buffer zones around abortion clinics to protect visitors from protesters have been halted after last-minute opposition from BBB Vice Prime Minister Mona Keijzer, sources told RTL. The move affects proposals by ministers for Interior and Kingdom Relations, Rijkaart (BBB), and Justice and Security, Van Oosten (VVD).
The proposal, submitted last Friday to the ministerial council, aimed to establish zones around clinics where demonstrations would be restricted. “Women must be guaranteed a quiet passage to an abortion clinic,” the ministers wrote in an unpublished letter seen by RTL. Currently, such protections depend on decisions by individual mayors.
Continued: https://nltimes.nl/2025/12/19/minister-blocks-plan-protest-buffer-zones-around-abortion-clinics
Dec 19, 2025
Rose Docherty became the first person charged under the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act after holding up a placard outside the facility in Glasgow in May, and again in September.
Under the laws, introduced in 2024, activities which could "influence or alarm others around hospitals and clinics where terminations are carried out" are prohibited.
Ms Docherty, 75, made no plea during the initial hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday and will appear again on 13 January.
11 December 2025
Police in Coleraine have charged a woman in her 50s under the Abortion Services (SAZ) Act with three counts of doing an act in a Safe Access Zone.
The charges relate to incidents at Causeway Hospital in Coleraine between Wednesday 3rd September and Wednesday, 19th November.
She is due to appear before Coleraine Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 5th January. As is procedure, all charges will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service.
Wednesday, 3 December 2025
Mayors can’t ban people from demonstrating at abortion clinics, but they can impose restrictions to prevent disorder, the Council of State ruled in four cases on Wednesday. For example, mayors can prohibit protests directly in front of the clinic’s entrance, as long as the location where demonstrators are permitted is within sight and hearing distance from the clinic, the Council of State said.
Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State issued rulings on four demonstrations at abortion clinics - one in Groningen, one in Amsterdam, and two in Heemstede. In all four cases, the mayor banned protesters from demonstrating directly in front of the clinic’s entrance to prevent disorder. The protesters disagreed with this.
Continued: https://nltimes.nl/2025/12/03/mayors-cant-ban-protests-abortion-clinics-can-set-limits-council-state
Catholic charity worker says someone’s thoughts ‘cannot possibly be a crime’ and her ‘punishment has clearly been the process’
Martin Evans
30 November 2025
Police and prosecutors are “frozen with indecision” over whether to charge a woman for silently praying near an abortion clinic, campaigners have claimed.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a Catholic charity worker, is being investigated by West Midlands Police for allegedly breaching a new buffer-zone law intended to prevent people protesting near abortion centres.
Continued: https://archive.is/7NIzF
(https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/30/police-no-decide-anti-abortion-campaigner-charged/)
26 NOV 2025
Impact International
The decision to classify NHS‑funded abortions as a “Human Rights” violation marks a dramatic shift in how Washington uses its flagship Human Rights reporting to judge allied domestic healthcare systems. Through the annual country report, the US now treats “state‑sponsored” abortion, including routine NHS care in England and Wales, as a breach on par with other alleged abuses, transforming a settled area of UK health Policy into evidence of government wrongdoing. At the heart of this move is an attempt to recast abortion, along with other social questions, as a core Human Rights battleground rather than a matter of domestic legislative compromise.
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/
18th October
By Fiona Brown
GILLIAN Mackay has slammed US vice president JD Vance’s attacks on the abortion buffer zones bill.
… During her speech at the Scottish Greens conference on Saturday, party co-leader Mackay called out “anti-choice protesters” misrepresenting the bill, including Vance.
“You can imagine my reaction when I found out that it was also the Vice President of the United States,” Mackay said.
Continued: https://www.thenational.scot/news/25553346.gillian-mackay-slams-jd-vance-attacks-buffer-zones-bill/
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.
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