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BBC grossly exaggerated number of women directly ordering abortion pills from overseas providers FOI reveals

Data released today (22/07) as a result of a Freedom Of Information request by Right To Life UK, shows that the BBC grossly exaggerated the actual number of women in the UK who have ordered illegal abortion pills online from overseas.

BBC coverage from 2017 implied that increasingly large numbers of individual women were directly ordering abortion pills from website overseas. This in turn suggested that there had been an increased demand from individual women for illegal abortion pills over a number of years.

However, the BBC’s presentation of the facts was extremely misleading. They disclosed the total number of abortion pills that have been seized each year since 2013, but failed to disclose that only one or two parcels of abortion pills had actually been seized each year.

So, instead of the hundreds of individuals apparently illegally ordering abortion pills online, the Freedom of Information request showed only a handful of individuals had ordered parcels containing abortion pills.

The data has been released as abortion campaigners seek to use alleged demand from women for illegal online abortion pills as a rationale for introducing a new radical abortion law to England and Wales.

In fact, the data obtained from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency showed that between 2013 and 2016 only 6 parcels containing abortion pills were seized at the border.

Operation Pangea seizures of abortion pills


2013201420152016
Number of abortion pills seized:5180270375
Actual number of parcels (not reported by BBC):1122

A spokesperson for Right To Life, Clare McCarthy said:

“It is very disappointing that the BBC have mislead the public around this. They appear to have mislead the public by omitting the vital point in their reporting that only one or two parcels a year had actually been seized, rather than hundreds.”

“Anyone who read the original coverage on this would have been lead to believe that 100s of individual women were ordering abortion pills online from overseas providers. The data released today shows that this likely not the case at all.”

“In fact, only a very small number of parcels had been imported by either a couple of individuals or possibly by abortion campaigners to make it appear that there was a very high demand from individual women. The BBC have selectively reported this misleading figure, leading the public to believe there was much higher demand from individual women for abortion pills from online overseas providers than is likely actually the case.”
“We are calling on the BBC to correct all the coverage they have given this issue and publicly commit to balanced reporting on this issue in the future.”

Urgent appeal 
to save liveS

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Only hours left of the appeal to build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.

Dear reader,

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you across the UK, after a two-year battle, MPs voted by 286 to 270 to reject the Edwards assisted suicide Bill.

This followed the defeat of the McArthur assisted suicide Bill in Scotland by 69 to 57 in March this year.

Many commentators thought both Bills would become law.

If that had happened, this would have led to the deaths of many thousands of vulnerable people over the coming decades.

Because supporters like you acted, those Bills were stopped.

Because of you, many vulnerable lives have been saved.

A prominent pollster described the campaign against these major attempts to introduce assisted suicide, which brought together people from all walks of life across the UK, as one of the “most successful 21st Century UK social issue campaigns”. You helped make that possible.

WHY WE MUST NOT STOP HERE

What we have achieved together is extraordinary. But we must not rest on our laurels.

Dignity in Dying, a multi-million-pound pressure group, has made clear that it will keep campaigning to legalise assisted suicide. 

We cannot wait until another Bill is brought forward. We need to keep pressing for better care and strengthen the case against legalisation now.

WHAT COMES NEXT

The next phase of our Support Not Suicide campaign will operate across Parliament, media, online and in grassroots communities in every constituency across the United Kingdom.

Our focus now is to build on that momentum from the defeat of these assisted suicide Bills and make these victories last.

We want to build a United Kingdom where assisted suicide is seen as unnecessary – and where legalising it is seen as unthinkable.

The first part of that work is a sustained push for universal access to high-quality palliative, hospice and social care. No one should feel driven towards assisted suicide because they cannot get the care and support they need. 

We have already asked supporters to contact their MPs about improving care. With your help, we will keep that pressure on in every constituency, brief MPs and Peers on gaps in care, and make the case for better provision in the media.

The second part is building on these wins to ensure more MPs and more of the wider public understand the dangers of legalising assisted suicide. We will put evidence of those risks before MPs and Peers. We will work with mainstream journalists to bring the voices of people directly affected, doctors and other experts into the national conversation, and produce clear videos and articles that supporters can share online and in their communities.

Our network of 250,000 supporters covers every constituency in the UK. Thanks to people like you sharing our content, our posts and videos have been viewed more than 100 million times online in the last year. 

We want to utilise that massive reach for this next phase of the campaign.

WE CAN ONLY DO THIS WITH YOUR HELP

The two-year fight to stop these Bills drew heavily on our limited resources.

To replenish those resources and fund the next phase of the Support Not Suicide campaign, we aim to raise at least £199,250 by midnight this Sunday (4 October 2026).

We are, therefore, appealing to you to please give as generously as you can today.

Every donation, large or small, will make a crucial difference in protecting vulnerable lives. Plus, if you are a UK taxpayer, £1 becomes £1.25 with Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.

Will you donate now to help make these victories last and protect vulnerable lives?

Urgent appeal 
to save liveS

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Only hours left of the appeal to build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.