New US policy designates NHS abortions as human rights breaches

The US State Department has classified state-funded abortion services, including those provided by the NHS, as human rights violations that it will report on in its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. This policy shift marks a fundamental rewriting of America’s approach to global human rights monitoring and places the NHS directly in the crosshairs of US diplomatic scrutiny. Humanists UK has expressed deep alarm at the move.

A senior State Department official described the changes as moving away from ‘group identities’ towards protecting ‘natural rights’ bestowed by ‘God, our creator.’ This theological framing represents a stark departure from the secular, evidence-based approach that has traditionally underpinned international human rights discourse and the US constitutional framework.

The new guidance directs US diplomats to classify a range of policies that were previously understood as sensible social measures as potential human rights violations. In addition to state-funded abortion, the administration’s effort to combat so-called ‘destructive ideologies’ now includes treating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) requirements in employment, ‘mass migration facilitation’, ‘arrests for “hate speech”’, and ‘religious freedom violations’, as violations of human rights.

For the UK, where 97-98% of abortions are funded by the NHS, this policy change has immediate implications. The NHS provides free abortion services to eligible patients through a network of specialist providers, with more than 200,000 procedures performed annually. Under the Trump administration’s new framework, this cornerstone of UK reproductive healthcare will be characterised as a human rights infringement in official US government reporting. Laws that limit anti-abortion protests, such as safe-access buffer zones around clinics, would also be flagged in US reports.

The suggestion that providing healthcare services constitutes a human rights violation contradicts the internationally recognised understanding that access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare, including safe and legal abortion, is itself a fundamental component of health rights and gender equality. This position contradicts the consensus of major international human rights bodies, medical organisations, and public health experts.

This policy shift comes amid a broader gutting of the State Department’s human rights infrastructure. The 2024 Country Reports, released this August, had already been drastically shortened, with entire sections on gender-based violence, reproductive rights, environmental justice, and systematic discrimination removed.

The UK is named as one of 20 countries whose reports will be flagged for special review, alongside Canada, Germany, France, and Ukraine. The previous report had already criticised the UK for ‘serious restrictions on freedom of expression,’ including limitations on anti-abortion protests near clinics and what the administration characterises as restrictions on prayer and speech.

Humanists UK Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson commented:

‘We despair at the further erosion of human rights in the United States and the devastating effect it is having on the rights and freedoms of others around the world.

‘The UK Government must be prepared to stand firm in defence of its healthcare system, equality legislation, and evidence-based social policies. It should not allow ideologically driven US reporting to influence domestic policy-making or to undermine the rights and freedoms of people in the UK.’