Good morning.
Between 1861 and 2022 only three women were prosecuted and convicted in the UK for illegal abortions. Over the last two years, six women have been taken to court and 29 suspected cases of illegal terminations came under investigation. The reason behind the rise in police investigating this issue is unclear, but it has caused much concern among health workers and campaigners who say that abortion should not be criminalised.
In response to this trend, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has released new guidance discouraging medics and other health workers from reporting people suspected of ending their pregnancies illegally. The intervention from the health body was strongly worded, stating that the RCOG “firmly believes it is never in the public interest to investigate and prosecute women” who have had illegal abortions. The RCOG added that staff who disclosed confidential patient information without consent could face proceedings by professional bodies.
For today’s newsletter, I spoke with the Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent, Haroon Siddique, about the UK’s abortion legislation and the potential impact of this new guidance. That’s right after the headlines.
Five big stories
Middle East | The US has carried out strikes in Iraq against three facilities linked to Iran-backed militias, the Pentagon has said, after a weekend attack on an Iraqi airbase that wounded US forces.
US news | Donald Trump has won the New Hampshire primary, likely cementing his place as the Republican presidential nominee, but his only remaining rival, Nikki Haley, has vowed to stay in the race.
World | The Doomsday Clock, a symbolic countdown to human extinction, has stayed at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it had been since it was established in 1947, a panel of international scientists has said.
Oscars 2024 | Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer leads the pack with 13 nominations at the 96th Academy awards, including best picture, director and actor for Cillian Murphy. Click here for a full breakdown of nominations for Barbie, Poor Things and more.
Energy | Nuclear power generation is likely to break records in 2025 as more countries invest in reactors to fuel the shift to a low-carbon global economy, while renewable energy is likely to overtake coal as a power source early next year, data has shown.
In depth: ‘Outdated and antiquated’ abortion laws are leaving women vulnerable
The Abortion Act 1967 permits the procedure with an authorised provider, but in reality the UK’s abortion laws are still underpinned by the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which outlawed deliberately ending pregnancies. This Victorian law was never repealed and the 1967 law was an amendment, meaning that abortions are still illegal unless certain thresholds are met. Under the 1861 act, women who unlawfully administer drugs or instruments to cause an abortion could be “kept in penal servitude for life”.
For decades, this detail went largely unacknowledged, but now, more women than ever are facing prosecution for having suspected illegal abortions.
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A big intervention
The RCOG’s decision to step in was in part due to timing. Over the last year, six women have been taken to court in England, among them a 15-year-old girl who had an unexplained early stillbirth. She was subjected to a year-long criminal investigation, with her text messages and search history being examined by police. This month, 22-year-old Bethany Cox has been found not guilty of two charges relating to an illegal abortion after a three-year investigation. And last year, the case of Carla Foster, who took abortion pills during lockdown after she was past the legal time limit for an abortion, prompted outrage after she was sentenced to 28 months in jail – a court of appeal judge eventually ruled that her sentence would be suspended and halved to 14 months.
“I think these cases happening all at once has really brought the issue back into the limelight, making the RCOG feel like they have to intervene,” Haroon says.
In an intervention on Monday that will trigger further debate on the decriminalisation of abortion, Dr Ranee Thakar, the president of the professional body, said “outdated and antiquated” abortion laws meant women were left vulnerable to criminal investigation. Though there are instances where medics and others should report concerns to the police, for example when there is evidence that FGM has been carried out on a child, the NHS code of practice states health workers only need to alert police if there’s a danger of a serious crime. Haroon wrote a comprehensive analysis on the legal basis of the RCOG’s recommendations.
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No one knows why
The motivation behind the relatively sudden uptick in prosecutions and lengthy investigations into abortions is unclear. “I think it’s fair to say no one really knows for sure why,” Haroon says, “but the increased use of pills obtained to do abortions at home during the pandemic has perhaps brought a level of awareness to the potential of illegal abortions happening, even if there’s a debate about whether they should be prosecuted in the first place.”
During the early part of the pandemic, the government introduced the temporary “pills by post” scheme, to ensure that women could access relevant reproductive healthcare during lockdowns without going to health settings. The government tried to quietly scrap the measure but, after significant pushback, it was made permanent in England and Wales in 2022.
One theory is that, in an effort to ensure that the scheme is not being misused, police are clamping down on the potential prevalence of illegal abortions. However, some measures have been described as cruel, with police reportedly testing women who have had miscarriages for abortion drugs and searching through women’s phones for their search histories and evidence on period-tracking apps.
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‘Horrendous impact’
“It’s safe to say that an investigation like this could have a horrendous impact on a person,” Haroon notes. The RCOG has said that prosecutions exposing “deeply traumatised” women to invasive investigations are often “distressing” and instead it firmly believes that women “should be treated with care and compassion, without judgment or fear of imprisonment”. Jonathan Lord, the co-chair of the British Society of Abortion Care Providers, told the Guardian that the organisation has had “several reports of patients with quite severe PTSD – not from the pregnancy loss, but from the police investigation afterwards”.
Families also bear the brunt. Carla Foster, who was described as “vulnerable” by the courts, spent time in prison after the police investigated her. She was separated from her three children, one of whom the judge said had special needs, which meant that he was “particularly reliant” on the “love and support” of his mother.
Campaigners are pushing for abortion to be completely decriminalised, so that health workers and those who are pregnant and considering an abortion are protected from criminal investigations. “In the meantime, they’re doing their best to ensure that, with the resources and the sway they have, no woman does face [criminalisation] by telling their members not to disclose information to police,” Haroon says. However, he adds that it’s important to remember that for many “this still doesn’t go far enough”. Anything short of full decriminalisation will mean that a pregnant person’s future is “dependent on whether individual health workers cooperate”.
What else we’ve been reading
The BBC reality TV series The Traitors (pictured above) got Elle Hunt to shell out the £159 annual TV licence fee: “I’ve not felt such pleasurable anticipation for a new episode of telly since the golden era of HBO Sundays,” Hunt writes. “Even if I don’t watch anything else this year, I’ll feel like I’ve had my money’s worth.” Nimo
A “wake-up call” for the fashion industry. That’s how the UK’s first-ever census on diversity in fashion has been described. The report, commissioned by the British Fashion Council (BFC), finds that the industry has succeeded in increasing diversity on the catwalk and in campaigns, but behind the scenes, just 9% of executive roles are held by people of colour, with a lack of diversity across the wider workforce. Nazia Parveen, acting deputy editor, newsletters
Michael Segalov spoke to 18-year-old Tal Mitnick, the first conscientious objector to be jailed in Israel since the 7 October Hamas atrocities that led to Israel’s mobilisation and its invasion of Gaza. Nimo
A deep dive into the world of Nicholas Saunders, the hippy grocer and forgotten genius who was a pioneer of the wholefood movement that transformed the way Britain eats. Nazia
Initially it was only rebel groups kidnapping people, as a way of striking terror into the public. Things have changed: Fred Harter’s report from Addis Ababa examines why abductions have become more common than ever. Nimo
Sport
Tennis | The rise of Jannik Sinner continued at warp speed as the 22-year-old reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open for the first time in his career, outclassing Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in a late-night battle. Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed and defending champion, put in another imperious performance as she dominated Barbora Krejcikova 6-2, 6-3 and will rekindle her rivalry with Coco Gauff in the semi-finals.
Football | Mauritania served up another shock result to dump 2019 winners Algeria out of the Africa Cup of Nations with a 1-0 victory and seal a historic place in the last 16. Angola secured top spot in Group D after a 2-0 victory against Burkina Faso. In Group C Cameroon edged The Gambia 3-2 to advance. Defending champions Senegal beat Guinea 2-0 as both teams advanced to the last 16.
Formula One | Madrid will take over from Barcelona as the host of the Spanish Grand Prix from 2026, putting the future of the current venue under threat on the Formula One calendar.
The front pages
“PM warns of more attacks in Yemen as crisis grows” – that’s the Guardian this morning while the i says “UK prepares for prolonged battle with Yemen rebels”. The Daily Telegraph leads with “Army chief – public face call-up if UK goes to war”. The Nottingham stabbings case dominates most other front pages. “Grace lost her life because she ‘would never leave a friend’” – that’s the Daily Express; similarly the Daily Mirror says “Grace died trying to protect her friend”. In the Times, “Grieving mother faces monstrous triple killer” and the Daily Mail asks “In God’s name why wasn’t he stopped?” – the perpetrator, Valdo Calocane, had been sectioned four times. “Hero vs the timebomb” – the latter being what his flatmates called him – is how the Metro headlines it. The Financial Times has “Hinkley Point nuclear plant delayed until 2029 as costs spiral to £46bn”.
Today in Focus
The terrifying, far-right ‘masterplan’ sparking protests across Germany
The far-right party AfD has met neo-Nazi activists to discuss mass deportations. Why is the party still so popular? Kate Connolly reports
Cartoon of the day | Martin Rowson
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Our love affair with pizza is showing no signs of abating. Tony Naylor discovers that although the broader restaurant industry narrative has been one of doom, gloom and closures, there is an exception when it comes to this Italian dish.
“Pizza is hot, hotter than ever,” says Daniel Young, the author of global guide Where to Eat Pizza and organiser of the London Pizza festival. It is affordable, flexible and customisable – and it suits the increasingly personalised way people want to eat, with kitchens expected to accommodate various dietary preferences.
As food fashions accelerate, pizza is also well placed to endlessly mutate, using new toppings and imported or hybrid styles. “There’s a lot of innovation,” says Jonny Heyes, whose Manchester-based Nell’s venues sell New York City-style slices and 22-inches pizzas. But equally: “You don’t have to explain it too much. It’s pizza.”
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Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
