What the hell is going on in the UK? Police are checking periods apps to look for abortions

[Soubriquet]

They have defended their actions and said they are looking for illegal abortions

link

They are also checking women’s houses

Under his eye indeed

I haven't used an app since the one I had when TTC made me cry (PCOS so wild cycles) but this is just WTF territory. What on earth do they think they're doing?! How would they even begin to suspect this? And is illegal abortion really even a thing now, given it's easily available on the NHS??

This was in Woman magazine last week

Police have been given new guidelines suggesting they can search womens homes for abortion drugs and even their mobile phones for internet searches, messages to family and friends and health apps if a pregnancy loss is unexpected.
Between 1861 when abortion was made illegal and November 2022 with updates to the law in between just three women were prosecuted for procuring an illegal abortion in Great Britain. Yet the number of women subjected to the trauma of these investigations has risen sharply. Around 100 women have faced investigations since 2020. A breach of privacy which is enshrined in Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
For every woman who ends up in court at least 10 more are subjected to prolonged police investigations according to abortion providers.
Ive copied this out from the paper copy but here is the whole thing for anyone with a Readly account.
https://gb.readly.com/magazines/woman/2025-06-03/6836d0c7eeb04ebdc0894d0d?srsltid=AfmBOoov8OFys60YBElhNn6YaB4TPD3s82vP1N3WdNQqImYJe6xf8qe0

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5337681-police-could-search-womens-homes-and-phones-after-pregnancy-loss?page=1

it sure would help the declining birth rate if women were frightened into continuing unwanted pregnancies wouldnt it?!

Sorry to back up just slightly, but abortion is a criminal offence in England and Scotland?

Aghast

Something I thought I'd see in the states first. I've always been suspicious of this.

Can someone explain this, like an overview for dummies style please?

They've always been able to conduct those searches, it's now in the guidance to inform some police officers (men) that they exist.

For those that are interested, here's the guidance
https://library.college.police.uk/docs/NPCC/Practice-advice-child-death-investigation-2024.pdf

From looking at that, a certain level of investigation will be started where there is an unattended stillbirth (not miscarriage), but given that there'd almost always be some form of labour at 24+ weeks, which would result in the woman going to hospital or phoning an ambulance, there can't be many in this category. Other cases that may be investigated are those with suspicious circumstances, just as before this guidance. None of this investigation necessarily entails searching the woman's house!

No one is pushing for routinely searching womens belongings after a stillbirth in this country. But if (hypothetically) a woman tries, for example, to obtain an abortion out of time by lying about her dates, then tells her midwife she'll 'do whatever is necessary' and then 3 days later phones up because she's had an unexpected stillbirth at 30 weeks out of the blue, yes, the police might look into it. Just like they would have before.

Equally, don't discount the situation where an abusive partner induces a stillbirth, either by using abortion drugs or by violence.

Just to add, it's not surprising that there's an increase in that number of prosecutions. I don't think this has anything to do with American politics, but the increasing availability of home abortion pills. 10 years ago, those pills would never leave the hospital, and whilst you could probably illegally buy them online, it wasn't easy.

Now you can just get them posted, and there's nothing to stop a woman taking them at 6 weeks rather than holding on to them till 30 weeks.

So it's become much easier for women to illegally end pregnancies beyond the intended period, which can be dangerous to the woman, and a baby to be born alive but die slowly and painfully, who could easily survive with medical attention but instead suffocates etc.

As a society, we've decided that life at that gestation should be protected unless there are powerful reasons not to (such as necessity or disability), so investigating suspicious deaths is hardly surprising.

Exactly. Same with demanding to be let in to homes to search devices or adding people to non-crime hate lists. And this does happen. There are documented cases of it.

It’s Kafkaesque to blacklist or harass people who have committed no crime whatsoever. But law abiding people tend to accept their parameters. They cannot do this if you refuse to cooperate unless they arrest you or come back with a warrant.

This from a law abiding woman who hasn’t had as much as a cross word with the police in my life, and who until recently believed they were there for my and others’ protection. Not likely. The UK is living under a dystopia. It isn’t a distant threat - it’s already here.

Fucking Mayday.

I can see both sides of this tbh.

where a criminal offence occurs, guidance is given to police officers by the College of Policing on how to investigate. This is updated periodically to ensure it provides up to date guidance, particularly with the digital era.

There are cases of illegal abortion, child destruction and infanticide where the police are the “voice of the unborn child” and are duty bound to investigate.

gathering evidence..

Unless you have a miscarriage or premature labour after you've told somebody you've considered a termination, googled something about pregnancy or termination. Or posted on Mumsnet. Or forgot to track a couple of periods (not that the presence of recording them would be believed either, as you can add them back at a later date when you remember). Or you've got an abusive ex. Or you happen to miscarry/go into premature labour/ have a stillbirth and be from a global majority ethnicity.

You haven't read the guidance have you...

Oh ffs.

If you have a miscarriage you could find yourself spending the next few months or years in court trying to prove it wasn't your fault.

At least try to keep up.

I seriously doubt that the hundreds of thousands of miscarriages will be investigated.
Only those that are reported by midwives/GP/hospitals or other statutory bodies as being potential illegal abortions.

But I don't understand. Why would anyone do an abortion themselves when it is free on the NHS?

It's exactly this. The few cases that have been brought have all hinged on abortion pills by post, as far as I understand it. The whole issue would go away if we simply revert to having to see a doctor to get the pills.

A calendar or diary won't give me little tips to ease pms, arrange my data into an attractive colour coded chart, or remind me to book my smear and check my boobs. I like using apps and never even imagined that they could be checked by police to learn about my menstrual cycle.

Sigh

Given everyone seems to be frothing rather than actually reading the guidance, I'll summarise it here

1. ITS NOT ABOUT MISCARRIAGES. NOT AT ALL. The only mention of miscarriages is to explain the difference between them and stillbirths.

2. some level of investigation will be conducted into cases where there is an unattended stillbirth (so not in hospital, no ambulance called, incredibly rare as this labour malarkey is painful and most people want their babies to have a chance!!). The investigation doesn't necessarily mean searching the woman's home/phone etc, but clarifies that they can (which they've always been able to do anyway).

3. the other case where they may investigate (again, stillbirths, not misscariages) is where there are other suspicious circumstances. So maybe someone was trying to get an illegal abortion just before, or told someone (who tells the police) that they were going to induce an abortion.

4. women that go into pre-term labour have nothing to fear by this guidance.

For women that suddenly go into preterm labour and give birth at home, without even time for an ambulance to arrive, it could be distressing to have an investigation. But what people are failing to understand is that it's inevitable that there'd be an investigation under those circumstances. No medical professional is able to attest to whether the baby was born alive. If it was and then died, then it's a matter for the coroner, who would need to look into cause of death etc. And yes, the police would have to look into the possibility of infanticide or murder, especially if the baby was old enough to survive without much support. So it's very much a matter for investigation irrespective of this guidance, and always has been.

@shellyleppard My app helps me project my next period because I need to block out days where I will be in agonising pain because I have endo. I do not want to be counting forward months ahead when the app does it for me.

Plus it allows you to add notes, symptoms, pain levels, track ttc. I don't have a paper diary, it is all in a Google calendar which we all share as a family and as close as I am to my adult sons marking my period is not necessary for them to see.

The app is good because I can look instantly where I am in my cycle ie 17 days in. It is just convenient and as I am 50 there is very little chance I will get pregnant and be subjected to the horrific invasion of privacy by the police.

Police in accessing mobile phone data shock when investigating a potential crime.

They are looking for evidence of illegal activity presumably because of a tip off. Illegal abortions are illegal just like theft is illegal or murder.

If the police were checking mobile phone apps to see if women had had a legal abortion then I'd be concerned but surely they are investigating a crime which is their job ?

Or we give women full body autonomy

Yeah, who cares if there was a murder eh? Such an insignificant offence it's barely worth investigating.

Abortion isn’t murder.