One in three pregnancies end in abortion, latest statistics for England and Wales reveal.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on conception rates in 2023 have shown that while there has been an increase in pregnancies, a higher increase in abortions has led to fewer babies being born overall.

The ONS data reported that the number of babies aborted in 2023 was 279,970. This is an increase of 13 per cent from the previous year.

The ONS revealed that: “The percentage of conceptions leading to abortion reached a record high of 32.1% in 2023. This percentage has generally been increasing for all age groups since 2015”.

It noted the stark increase in abortion rates since the coronavirus pandemic: “The number of conceptions leading to abortion has increased by 35.2% since 2019, having previously been stable for more than a decade.”

During the pandemic, the Government introduced a temporary measure allowing women under ten weeks pregnant to access abortion pills at home without an in-person consultation with a medical professional. The measure was later made permanent.

The data also highlighted the impact of marriage on abortion rates, showing that babies are over three times more likely to be aborted if their parents are not married.*

More than 100 single men over the age of 40 applied to be recognised as fathers to babies born through surrogacy, The Times has revealed.

Data from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service also showed a large increase in same-sex couples applying to be the legal parents of surrogate babies – almost three times more than a decade ago.

In 2019, single adults were given the same rights as couples to use a surrogate mother to have a baby. While commercial surrogacy is illegal in the UK, people are permitted to bring children born by a surrogate mother from countries abroad where the practice is allowed.

Surrogacy law expert Louisa Ghevaert claimed the data showed the “progressive and inclusive approach to surrogacy in the UK”.

However, Lexi Ellingsworth, co-founder of campaign group Stop Surrogacy Now, said: “The fact that the majority of single male applicants for a parental order in Britain are over 40 should prompt some probing questions about surrogacy. Children are not a lifestyle purchase and pregnancy and labour is not a service.”

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7FmXAfYnLAo

Belfast City Council has voted to illuminate City Hall in celebration of so-called ‘International Safe Abortion Day’, despite public opposition.

The pro-abortion campaign pushes for decriminalisation up to birth and the abolition of mandatory reflection periods.

The Alliance Party’s motion to mark the day was voted through without debate, and a subsequent attempt to block it was defeated by 36 to 18 votes. But over 18,000 people have signed a petition against the display, with the council receiving 750 email complaints.

The Christian Institute’s Deputy Director Simon Calvert said: “The language of ‘safe abortion’ is exactly the kind of misdirection and corruption of language that we’ve become used to from the abortion lobby. It is not at all ‘safe’ for the baby.

“Why don’t they ever talk about the baby? The reason is they know abortion is a terrible evil and they are seeking to hide that reality from themselves. We must pray for a softening of hearts towards the unborn.”

Michael Robinson of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children added: “The slaughter of children is not an issue that unites Belfast, and it is a disgrace that public money is being used to pretend it does.

“Belfast should be united for life and for the most innocent in society.”

There's a massive irony in the Labour government's attempt to bring back the Assisted Suicide push. A government adviser on suicide prevention has pointed out that the vote on the assisted suicide Bill will take place the day after World Suicide Prevention Day, revealing a striking disparity in supporters of the Bill’s views on suicide.

The World Suicide Prevention Day campaign, organised by the International Association for Suicide Prevention and co-sponsored by the World Health Organisation, aims to “raise awareness around the globe that suicide can be prevented”.

The theme for the 2026 World Suicide Prevention Day is “Changing the narrative on suicide”. This year, the campaign calls for “suicide prevention and mental health to be a priority in public policy, urging governments and institutions to take action”, while also “developing and implementing evidence-based strategies, improving access to quality care, and ensuring that those in distress receive the support they need”. 

Despite this campaign, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales for those with a prognosis of six months or less, will have its Second Reading in the House of Commons the very next day. During this debate, MPs will vote on whether they believe the assisted suicide Bill should pass to the next stage of the legislative process.

Professor Louis Appleby, a research and government adviser on suicide prevention and mental health, said that this was “a contradiction, to put it mildly, in the timing”, in that the day after “Parliament will commit to preserving life, bringing people back from despair”, they will debate whether to legalise helping people to end their own lives. 

Appleby, who chairs the Government’s national suicide prevention strategy advisory group, previously warned that legalising assisted suicide would harm suicide prevention efforts. 

“My concern is that if we decide as a society, if we concede the principle that people who want to take their own lives should be helped through that crisis and out the other side, then conceding that ground [by helping people die by assisted suicide] is a huge step”, he said.

Appleby cautioned, saying that once you cross that threshold to say that some suicides are acceptable, that it is “so far removed from what we currently do and from the principle that’s always guided us on despairing individuals, that it’s an enormous change with far-reaching implications”.

California has experienced the highest number of yearly assisted suicides on record, with a total of 1,235 deaths in 2025, a 149.49% increase over five years.

Released this week, the California End of Life Option Act 2025 Data Report shows a 10.96% increase in total deaths from assisted suicide compared with the previous year, when there were 1,113 assisted suicides. There was an almost 150% increase in assisted suicides in California in 2025 compared with 2020, when there were 495 assisted suicides.

Under California’s End of Life Option Act, a resident of the state can be provided with life-ending drugs if they are thought to have six months or less to live. Since California made assisted suicide legal in June 2016, a total of 6,758 people have ended their lives this way.

The 1,235 deaths account for 0.438% of all deaths for residents of California in 2025.

Among those who ended their lives by state-assisted suicide, the concerns that contributed to the decision to end their lives were primarily non-medical. These included 84.1% of those who ended their lives saying “loss of dignity”, 96.10% saying being “less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable”, and 94.70% saying “loss of autonomy” were contributing reasons for ending their lives by assisted suicide.

The data for 2025 also shows that in almost half of all cases – 47.4% – it is unknown whether or not there were any complications following the ingestion of the life-ending drugs. In cases where it is known whether an individual experienced complications after ingesting the assisted suicide drugs, the complication rate was 3.38%. 

The report states, “Individuals who regained consciousness are not counted as [End of Life Option Act] deaths”, implying there were at least some people who ingested the lethal drugs and did not, in fact, die.

The data for 2025 revealed that, in 30 instances, those who died by assisted suicide decided not to inform their family of their decision to end their life.

85.5% of those who ended their lives in California in 2025 through assisted suicide were white, despite making up only 34.7% of the population according to the most recent census data.

A group of young Swiss conservative activists will go on trial next week and could face prison time for carrying a massive white cross that said “No Pride Month” into a Catholic church during an ecumenical pro-LGBT “pride” service in 2022 and later holding a sign protesting a “drag queen story hour.”

In a video posted August 27 on social media, three members of “Junge Tat,” a group of young Swiss conservative activists, spoke out about the decision by the Zurich Public Prosecutor’s office to charge and put them on trial September 4 for carrying a massive 2.4-meter white cross with the words “No Pride Month” into Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church during an ecumenical service celebrating LGBT “pride” in June 2022.

The Junge Tat members are also being charged for another incident that year when they held up a sign saying “family not gender ideology” during a “drag queen story hour” event, among other activities.

Some of the charges against the young activists include “racial discrimination,” “interfering with freedom of religion and worship,” and “violations of the Explosives Act.” The leaders of Junge Tat are facing up to 15 months in prison, with six months to be served, as well as nearly 50,000 Swiss Francs in fines.

“Is freedom of speech still upheld in democratic Switzerland? Certainly, for leftists, liberals, or the state broadcaster SRF. And for right-wing and dissident opinions?” Manuel Corchia, one of the group’s leaders, pondered in the video.

Tobias Lingg, another Junge Tat leader, continued, “For example, is it still allowed to say ‘family instead of gender ideology’ or ‘No Pride Month?’ Can you wear a cross with this inscription to a church service? According to the Zurich Sihl public prosecutor’s office, ‘No.'”

After declaring that they, as right-wing activists, are now being punished for “opinion offenses,” they delved into the absurdity of these charges.

“We are accused of, at a ‘Pride service,’ having attacked religious beliefs thematically and mocked the cross. We, who on that day placed a white cross with the inscription ‘No Pride Month’ in that service, are said to have mocked Christianity and the cross,” Lingg said.

Scotland is on the road to becoming the most dangerous place in the world for unborn babies. A leaked copy of the Scottish National Party’s conference draft agenda has revealed that it includes a motion calling for a change in the law so it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason, including sex-selective purposes, and at any point up to and during birth. 

According to information obtained by The National, the leaked document – which is not a finalised list of what will be debated at the SNP conference in October – includes a motion that calls for a drastic change in the law in what they say would make the act of a woman performing her own abortion “rooted in human rights and equality of access, not criminal law”.

The motion asks members of the Party to note “with concern that at present, Scotland is the only part of the UK” that has not “remove[d] legal penalties from women under the 1967 Abortion Act”. The removal of these legal penalties would mean it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason, including sex-selective purposes, and at any point up to and during birth.

If the motion is adopted at the Party conference and were to become SNP policy, it “can be taken forward in government or championed at Westminster”.

If the motion were adopted, became party policy and was then taken forward by an MSP, it could lead to Scotland adopting an extreme abortion law that would likely lead to a significant increase in the number of women performing dangerous late-term abortions at home.

Polling shows the public opposes abortion up to birth and legalising sex-selective abortion. 89% of the general population and 91% of women agree that gender-selective abortion should be explicitly banned by the law – and only 1% of women support introducing abortion up to birth. 

Review calls for extreme changes to Scottish abortion law

These proposals follow a review of abortion law in Scotland in 2025, commissioned by Humza Yousaf when he was Scottish First Minister, which recommended that Scotland scrap the 24-week abortion time limit and allow abortions on social grounds, including for sex-selective purposes, right up to birth. 

Belfast City Hall will be illuminated in green next month to celebrate an international campaign to permit abortion up to birth, prompting a backlash in the region.

The decision to illuminate Belfast City Hall on 28 September was made to celebrate International Safe Abortion Day after a City Council committee voted it through without debate. 

The campaign has explicitly called for the “decriminalisation” of abortion and has called for “expand[ed] access to safe abortion by removing all policy barriers”. The complete decriminalisation of abortion and the removal of all policy barriers would make abortion legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy up until the point of birth.

This extreme position is radically at odds with the general population. Only 1% of women want abortion to be available up to birth, and 70% of women want the abortion limit to be reduced to 20 weeks or lower.

According to the Belfast News Letter, reports have confirmed that International Safe Abortion Day does not meet the criteria for illuminating Belfast City Hall, something that is usually done for council-run events, tourist events, and significant anniversaries of organisations with a Belfast connection. Groups related to medical procedures are explicitly ruled out in the eligibility criteria. Despite this, the City Council committee voted in favour of allowing it, with no debate.

Sarah Bunting, DUP Group Leader on Belfast City Council, stated that the landmark should not be “used to promote campaigns on deeply divisive and sensitive issues such as abortion”, but rather should be “a shared civic space welcoming to everyone”.

The decision must now come to the full council for ratification, and Bunting says her Party, which she describes as “a pro-life party and we believe in protecting the lives of both mothers and unborn children”, will seek to block it.