News: Police could search homes and phones after pregnancy loss

[mummytoonetryingfortwo]

Link to the story in the Observer

Anyone else seen this and is absolutely horrified?

They always could if they suspect a crime? Do you think that is wrong? They obviously can't just do it randomly.

The new guidance includes stillbirths. I think it’s utterly horrendous that we live in a country where women can be treated like this.

For a moment there I thought for sure that you had to be talking about the US!

Same here. Wtf is going on

I worry that women with something like an unexpected late miscarriage that they weren't aware of will become reluctant to seek medical care if it means there's likely to be a police investigation.

Details are also provided for how police could bypass legal requirements for a court order to obtain medical records about a woman’s abortion from NHS providers.

Why would they need to do this? If they need to know for some reason going legal routes to check they do need to do so seems a good safeguard.

Leading abortion providers, legal experts and medical professionals have told The Observer they were not consulted over the NPCC guidance and called for it to be amended.
Katie Saxon at BPAS, the leading abortion provider, said the organisation was aware of an increase in police investigating women who ha d had abortions in recent years, “but to see it in black and white after years of criticisms of the way this outdated law is enforced is harrowing”.

I don't get why there's been an increase - yes there are laws that need to be followed but why is there an increase in investigations - what's going on.

The end bit when they say pg loss isn't routine investigated - well as 1 in 4 pg end in miscarriage so of course not.

Exactly. It's vile.

It's straight out of the far-right, Christian playbook. First you start by going for women who have stillbirths, then miscarriages, then you start to clamp down on abortion. It's terrifying

Fight back! Here in the US we lost all our rights and I don’t know how we will get them back.

I am sure this is more about the dwindling number of new consumers being born to perpetuate capitalism. Under the guise of religion and saving the children. Horrific and I agree, probably abortion limits or maybe some push to force women into relationships and childbirth.

Fair enough I say

Why? Because women must fulfil their purpose of birthing as many children as possible?

Whilst I totally agree that this is a horrible situation I think it worth pointing out that this is not a new power. Police had the ability to do this since 1991. Up until recently abortion rights have ,in the main, had cross party support but I think now is the time to push for decriminalisation of abortion given the ongoing rise of right wing fundamentalists. Look at the USA.

I’m sorry but this is absurd. Go and read the guidance it’s publicly available. It’s about cases of still birth (which always have some joint agency referral for a myriad of reasons) where there is reason to believe someone has deliberately terminated the pregnancy outside of the legal limits in the UK which is 24 weeks except where a serious disability exists. These cases are exceptionally rare. I’ve never come accross one. The guidance exists to inform officers who come across these exceptionally rare cases how to investigate them effectively and sensitively. It’s not a clamp down on abortion.

The article is incredibly badly written and is a nasty bit of click bait. The guidance doesn’t ‘circumvent court orders’. It gives perfectly reasonable guidance on the law relating to application for medical records where the person under investigation declines to give consent. It’s a complex area of law

Presumably this will only be in cases where medical staff report suspicions? Much like taking your kid to A+E with a broken arm could in theory lead to police involvement, but only in the cases where there are suspicious circumstances.
So the vast majority of late miscarriages/stillbirths will not be affected.

If you are meaning they are going to routinely interrogate every woman who has a stillbirth then that is of course outrageous.

So they don't have the manpower to investigate the fucking thousands of rapes, assaults and harassment of women but they have plenty of time to investigate miscarrying women? I'd probably be arrested for obstructing them all the fucking way and assaulting whatever stazi officer tried to come into my house after I'd lost a baby! Has Trump somehow taken over British policing?

Why?

Exactly!!!

Well I had hoped the police were not going that way.

Cases include a 15-year-old girl in 2021 who faced a year-long investigation after an unexplained stillbirth, with her phone and laptop subjected to a “digital strip search.”
The case was dropped after a coroner confirmed natural causes.

Another woman was held in custody for 36 hours after a stillbirth at 24 weeks, despite being within the legal abortion limit.

In January 2025, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) issued guidance advising officers to search for abortion drugs and check phones for menstrual tracking apps or internet search histories in cases of unexpected pregnancy loss. This guidance, developed without public consultation, has raised concerns about increased suspicion and invasive investigations.

That is utterly outrageous.

Disgusted

Just because you google something doesn't mean you're going to do something

I think abortion should be removed from the criminal system entirely

Abortion arrest: Recording reveals police concern

This was a mistake - woman who went though covid phone system thought she was 6 weeks as did service but was actually past limit.

the Met's child abuse investigation lead at the time can be heard saying: "It's not a comfortable area for police to be operating in… any criminalisation around abortions."

...

There is no legal duty for medics to report suspected crimes and the midwife was in breach of patient confidentiality for reporting to the police, says Prof Emma Cave, an expert in healthcare regulation who has read a transcript of the recording.
She says the midwife's initial assurance to Ms Packer that her care was going to be the "first concern" seems "at odds" with then being told that police will be informed.
"If people think that by attending hospital they'll be reported to the police, they might avoid treatment and suffer serious health consequences," says Prof Cave.
In response to what happened to Ms Packer and other women, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists released guidance to remind healthcare professionals that it is never in the public interest to report women to the police who might have terminated pregnancies illegally.
It is and always has been doctors' legal duty to respect patients' confidentiality, said the college.

Me too. Especially with the latest news re the abortion arrest that happened recently.

That case is featured in an article in Cosmopolitan
https://gb.readly.com/magazines/cosmopolitan-uk/2025-05-29/68319c6cbe2534470f0977c3?srsltid=AfmBOopUxphBBsf8AFuYl7KeDgs_c7vdFesFs9Ur4CXI2CpXQlXmiXVB