This post was sent out to our mailing list in September 2026
I was at the ‘march for life’ counter-protest in London on 5 September, and I want to tell you about it.
Every year, anti-abortion groups organise a protest in central London. The coalition has close links to the American anti-abortion lobby group Alliance for Defending Freedom, who spent £1.4m on anti-abortion lobbying in the UK in 2024. Its co-founder was charged for breaching a buffer zone near an abortion clinic earlier this year, as part of a strategy to reframe buffer zones as an infringement on freedom of speech.
Another part of their strategy is to create the impression of widespread support for their anti-abortion policies, which we know isn’t there. Most people in the UK support access to abortion.
I actually think the ‘march for life’ seemed smaller than last year. But their tactics are changing, which is important to talk about.
Since I first attended a counter-protest in 2015, the age range of the anti-abortion crowd has changed. It used to be older, and now a lot more young people – particularly young men – are taking part.
The other thing we can see each year is the money being pumped into the march. They produced a huge stage, a live band, a massive PR system and big screens – a visual reminder of what we already know: the evangelical American far-right are desperate to pour money into UK anti-abortion organising.
Something that really struck me is how many anti-abortion activists took it upon themselves to infiltrate the pro-abortion crowd. This felt noticeably different from previous years, and these people seemed to fall into predominantly two different camps – the people who wanted to record content, and people who just wanted to antagonise people by starting ‘debates’. The latter reminds me of their strategy of getting arrested within buffer zones around clinics to push a ‘freedom of speech’ narrative. Abortion isn’t up for debate.
Many of them were livestreaming the pro-choice protesters and speakers, trying to intimidate us. This year a section of the march came directly over to our corner of Parliament Square, armed with 4 or 5 huge banners with photos of foetuses. Gregory Moffitt (AKA Young Bob), a far-right 18-year-old who calls himself a “Christian pro-life remigration activist” was arrested after he entered this space and assaulted a woman who confronted him. This is the same man who made a video saying women need to be ‘uneducated’ towards becoming ‘pro-life’. We were warned about him by other protestors because he’s so intent on getting clickbait content to push his agenda onto other young men.
The link between these protests and far-right, misogynistic violence is clear to me. Young men are livestreaming their harassment of pro-choice (mostly) women, to grow their social media platforms. They use violent tactics to intimidate, and they use misogyny as a tool to recruit, convince, and disrupt people’s access to healthcare.
With the ‘march for life’ we see this misogyny at scale, with antis building stigma to try and prevent people from accessing abortion care. But it’s exactly the same misogyny we see on the helpline, at an individual level. I spoke to a woman last week whose boyfriend had tried to coerce her into not having an abortion. That abusive partner and the far-right content creator at the march are using the same tactics. The two are deeply connected.
Here are 3 reasons I’m hopeful about our ability to resist this anti-abortion movement:
- Anti abortion groups seem big, but they are a vocal minority. Most people in the UK support abortion access.
- The pro-abortion counterprotest was organised and successful, disrupting an anti-abortion march meeting and helping us avoid harassment, protect each other and make our voices heard.
- I know from our helpline work that, for every anti-abortion man who wants to stop his girlfriend getting an abortion, there are hundreds of people stepping up to help her anyway, organising, funding and accompanying her to an appointment.
