Urgent appeal to build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.
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Thousands take part in minute of silence to commemorate 10 million lives lost to abortion

Thousands of people across the United Kingdom stopped for a minute of silence at 11:41am to commemorate the ten million lives that have been lost to abortion in England, Wales and Scotland since the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967.

It is projected that the ten millionth baby had their life ended by abortion at 11:41am on Friday 23 September. The minute of silence took place to coincide with the tragic ending of this baby’s life and to also remember the other 9,999,999 lives that have been lost to abortion across England, Scotland and Wales.

Following the minute of silence, Right To Life UK released a video titled The Ten Million to commemorate the ten million people who had their lives ended through abortion and to attempt to illustrate what the UK has lost through the death of these millions of people.

The video began asking the question “Had these 10 million babies been born, who would they be today?” before proceeding to outline:

  • About 500,000 of them would be in their 50s by now.
  • There would be nearly 2,000,000 each in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
  • 1,500,000 would now be teenagers.
  • Nearly 2,000,000 would be children.
  • 800,000 would currently be babies and toddlers.
  • 5,000,000 would be women or girls, sisters, daughters, aunts, mothers and grandmas. Some of their most common names would be Emily, Jenny, Sarah, Emma and Olivia.
  • Of the men and boys, the most common names would be Mike, Chris, Matt, Jake and Josh.
  • About 3,300,000 would love Marmite, about 3,300,000 would hate it, and the remainder wouldn’t have minded either way.
  • There would have been 2,900,000 more weddings and millions more couples would be in love.

BACKGROUND

In 2021, more than one baby was lost to abortion every two and a half minutes; 26 lives were ended every hour.

The number of abortions in England and Wales reached a record high with 214,869 taking place in 2021, while 13,758 terminations were performed in Scotland in the same year.

Opinion polls repeatedly show that the public wants increased protections for unborn babies and the number of abortions reduced, rather than the wholesale removal of legal safeguards around abortion.

Only 1% of the population want abortion to be available up to birth and 70% of women want the abortion limit to be reduced to 20 weeks or lower.

Polling from 2019 revealed that over 41% of Londoners believe abortion should be illegal in almost all circumstances.

A spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson said:  “At 11:41am today, a baby’s life was ended by abortion. This baby is projected to be the ten millionth baby to have their life ended by abortion in Great Britain”. 

“People from right across the United Kingdom stopped for a minute of silence to coincide with the tragic ending of this baby’s life and to also remember the other 9,999,999 lives that have been lost to abortion across Great Britain”.

“It is a national tragedy that ten million lives have been lost since the passing of the 1967 Abortion Act, each one a valuable human being who was denied the right to life”.

“Every one of these abortions represents a failure of our society to protect the lives of babies in the womb and a failure to offer full support to women with unplanned pregnancies”.

Urgent appeal 
to save liveS

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help 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.

Help build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.