47 h. ago Supreme court paves way for South Carolina and other states to defund Planned Parenthood

Decision could embolden red states in US to block clinics that provide abortions from receiving Medicaid fundsUS politics live – latest updatesThe US supreme court has paved the way for South Carolina to kick Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program over its status as an abortion provider, a decision that could embolden red states across the country to effectively “defund” the reproductive healthcare organization.The case, Medina v Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, centers around a 2018 executive order from South Carolina’s governor, Henry McMaster, that blocked clinics that provide abortions from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. “Payment of taxpayer funds to abortion clinics, for any purpose, results in the subsidy of abortion and the denial of the right to life,” McMaster said at the time, even though the reimbursements could not be used for abortions. Abortions are also now banned in South Carolina after six weeks of pregnancy.More details soon Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Abortions in the US are on the rise three years after Roe v Wade was overturned

A growing number of abortions happen through telehealth – including for women in states with strict bansThree years after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, erasing the national right to abortion and paving the way for more than a dozen states to ban the procedure, the number of abortions performed in the US is still on the rise – including in some states that ban the procedure.US abortion providers performed 1.14m abortions in 2024, according to new data released on Monday by #WeCount, a Society of Family Planning project that has tracked abortion provision since 2022. That’s the highest number on record in recent years. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago ‘Our era of violent populism’: the US has entered a new phase of political violence

The political temperature is dangerously high – and shows few signs of coolingIt has been a grim couple of weeks in the US, as multiple acts of politically motivated violence have dominated headlines and sparked fears that a worrying new normal has taken hold in America.Last Saturday, a man disguised as a police officer attacked two Democratic legislators at their homes in Minnesota, killing a state representative and her husband, and wounding another lawmaker and his wife. The alleged murderer was planning further attacks, police said, on local politicians and abortion rights advocates. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago MPs back assisted dying for England and Wales in crunch Westminster vote

MPs voted by 314 to 291 - a majority of 23 - in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

Politics

8 d. ago Assisted dying set to become law in England and Wales after MPs back bill in Westminster vote

MPs voted by 314 to 291 - a majority of 23 - in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

Politics

8 d. ago MP offered private ambulance to parliament amid fears assisted dying bill could come down to one vote

Sorcha Eastwood, a Northern Irish MP, has said she is unable to make it to Westminster for the landmark vote because she has Covid

Politics

9 d. ago The US supreme court just undermined gender equality | Moira Donegan

The Skrmetti decision upholding Tennessee’s ban on transition-related healthcare for minors deprives children and batters the 14th amendmentBy now, it is a ritual: every June, Americans endure several weeks of agonizing suspense, as we wait to hear how the supreme court will erode our freedoms, attack our dignity, undermine self-government and empower those who enrich themselves at our expense. The court, controlled by career politicians in robes who were hand-selected for their loyalty to the rightwing and their willingness to be wildly intellectually dishonest in pursuit of Republican policy objectives, has ended the right to abortion, desiccated the Voting Rights Act, made state gun regulations nearly impossible and declared the president functionally immune to criminal law. Many of us waited, with a mixture and terror and disgust, to see what cruelties the court would deliver for us in 2025.The justices decided to start by attacking vulnerable children. In a 6-3 split, the court...

Events

9 d. ago Activists and MPs vow to fight decriminalisation of abortion after landmark change passed with just 45 minutes of debate

MPs voted for the biggest change to abortion law for half a century, meaning women will no longer be prosecuted for aborting their baby for any reason and at any stage up to birth.

Events

1 week ago Abortion remains a criminal offence in the UK because of the left’s timidity. We must learn from that – and fast | Stella Creasy

Tuesday’s vote in parliament was a missed opportunity – and proof that progressives are allowing the right to shape the key debatesAround the world, the antis are joining forces. Whether anti-abortion, anti-transgender, anti-immigrant, anti-human rights or just anti anyone who doesn’t look like them, they are collaborating; amplifying one another and sharing their political and cultural successes. Their rhetoric now dominates our discussions, and increasingly our ballot boxes. In response, some argue caution or even capitulation – as if we can stop the public being dragged to the extremes if we speak in hushed tones or water down our ambitions for social justice. As we witness the consequences of this, it is time to speak up for those values that drive us to show that another future is possible.On Tuesday, parliament had the opportunity to set abortion in England and Wales on the same modern, regulated footing as it is in Northern Ireland: as a human right. Instead, a vote on this w...

Events

1 week ago Labour MPs call for abortion to be decriminalised in Scotland after vote at Westminster

EXCLUSIVE: Lillian Jones and Joani Reid have urged the Scottish Government to make sure no woman is prosecuted for having an abortion.

Politics

1 week ago MPs vote to decriminalise abortion in biggest change to reproductive rights in decades

Move opposed by senior politicians including the justice secretary Shabana Mahmood, who branded it ‘extreme’

Politics

1 week ago Women being prosecuted under 19th century law passed by men, MP says, before vote on decriminalising abortion – UK politics live

Parliament to vote on decriminalising abortion in what would be biggest shake-up to reproductive rights in England and Wales in 60 yearsCasey says in the past government has talked relentlessly about the need for better data sharing between departments.But she says there is a need to consider making this mandatory.I was there when the tragedy of Soham happened. We knew at that point that if we had had better data sharing there’s a possibility that we might have saved those girls’ lives. There’s certaintly an absolute clarity that intelligence would have been much faster in either avoiding it or or actually finding that dreadful human being earlier.And we’ve known that forever onwards. And so I think there is also an issue that the Home Office can’t drag their feet on, looking at police intelligence systems, given we’ve living in the 21st century. Probably everbody in this room can connect within seconds. Yet we had Befordshire police finding a young boy that was being, in my mind tr...

Politics

1 week ago MPs to debate proposals to decriminalise abortion – UK politics live

Parliament to vote on decriminalising abortion in what would be biggest shake-up to reproductive rights in England and Wales in 60 yearsCasey says in the past government has talked relentlessly about the need for better data sharing between departments.But she says there is a need to consider making this mandatory.I was there when the tragedy of Soham happened. We knew at that point that if we had had better data sharing there’s a possibility that we might have saved those girls’ lives. There’s certaintly an absolute clarity that intelligence would have been much faster in either avoiding it or or actually finding that dreadful human being earlier.And we’ve known that forever onwards. And so I think there is also an issue that the Home Office can’t drag their feet on, looking at police intelligence systems, given we’ve living in the 21st century. Probably everbody in this room can connect within seconds. Yet we had Befordshire police finding a young boy that was being, in my mind tr...

Politics

1 week ago Fewer than half of young men believe abortion should be legal, poll finds

Exclusive: Just 46 per cent of young men support abortion in all or most cases, almost half as many as older generations

Politics

2 w. ago Creasy attempt to change abortion law ‘not supported by abortion providers’ – BPAS

Leading pro-choice charity says NC20 amendment to criminal justice bill ‘not right way’ to reform lawAn attempt to change the law on abortion led by the Labour MP Stella Creasy is not supported by “any of the abortion providers in the country”, a leading pro-choice charity has said.Rachael Clarke, the head of advocacy at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas), said Creasy’s NC20 amendment to the criminal justice bill “is not the right way” to overhaul abortion laws. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Creasy attempt to change abortion law ‘not supported by service providers’

British Pregnancy Advisory Service says NC20 amendment to criminal justice bill ‘not right way’ to overhaul the lawUK politics live – latest updatesAn attempt to change the law on abortion led by the Labour MP Stella Creasy is not supported by “any of the abortion providers in the country”, a leading pro-choice charity has said.Rachael Clarke, the head of advocacy at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas), said Creasy’s NC20 amendment to the criminal justice bill “is not the right way” to overhaul abortion laws. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Women and men diverge more than ever on support for abortion rights, poll shows

Gallup poll found 61% of women identify as pro-choice, while only 41% of men do so, in three years after fall of RoeThree years after the fall of Roe v Wade and months after an election that heavily focused on the fight over abortion rights, men and women have never diverged more on their support for access to the procedure, according to new polling from Gallup released Monday.Sixty-one percent of women now identify as “pro-choice”, but only 41% of men say the same, Gallup found. The same percentage of women identified as “pro-choice” in 2022, just after the decision to overturn Roe was leaked, but at the time, 48% of men also did so. Prior to Roe’s collapse, men and women were never more than 10 points apart from one another on the issue, according to decades of Gallup polling. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Abortion rights activists say 'decriminalisation isn't enough' ahead of Westminster vote

As MPs gather to debate an e-petition calling for the decriminalisation of abortion on June 2, abortion rights campaigners explain why decriminalisation isn't enough to protect women

Politics

3 w. ago Inside the Victorian era law of 1861 that governs abortion rights in the UK

As campaigners fight for the decriminalisation of abortion to the UK, we delve into the 1861 Victorian era law that currently governs women's bodily autonomy in Britain

Politics