A policeman from Teesside is accused of pushing his pregnant girlfriend down the stairs after she refused to have an abortion. SPUC has been highlighting the horrific reality of coerced abortion after a BBC poll found that up to 15% of British women have suffered pressure to abort a child.

Thomas Gair, 31, is accused of coercive behaviour and assaults, including pushing his pregnant partner, Chloe, down the stairs at their Teesside home.

Chloe, who also works for the police, said: “When I fell pregnant, he [Mr Gair] told me to have an abortion or he was going to leave me. He said we couldn’t afford it and it would ruin our lives.

“He told me I would be a crap mother and I was probably going to lose the baby… He would poke and jab me in the stomach and he would threaten, ‘I will put you down the stairs.’”

On 31 May 2020, it is alleged that Mr Gair pushed Chloe down the stairs.

“I was going upstairs to the top floor of our house, and he was coming down”, Chloe recounts. “He began shouting and screaming in my face and he pushed me back and I fell right down the stairs backwards and hit my head twice. I was knocked out.”

Chloe had to be checked out at the hospital. Despite a hard pregnancy, the baby was later born.

Mr Gair denies all charges. The trial continues.

15% of UK women pressured into abortions

Respected bioethicist Dr Greg Pike, speaking at SPUC’s London conference last year, explained how the mainstream pro-abortion narrative has been “enormously downplaying” the reality of coerced abortion.

But a recent Savanta ComRes survey, commissioned by the BBC, reported that 15% of respondents said they were pressured in some way into having abortions.

A 2004 academic study found that as many as 64% of American women and 37% of Russian women who had abortions said they “felt pressured by others”.

In response to the BBC poll findings, as well as numerous cases of coerced abortion in the UK – including Hayley’s Story – SPUC has sought to raise awareness about the issue and call for action to protect women.

When will society take coerced abortion seriously?

SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), said: “Coerced abortion is a frightfully real blight on women’s lives in this country. Yet not enough is being done to confront this issue and take it seriously.

“Journalist Hannah Gillott, writing for Varsity this week, dismissed the reality of coerced abortion. ‘The notion that 15% of abortions [referring to the BBC poll] are undertaken due to pressure does not seem valid’, wrote Gillott in her disgraceful article.

“Ms Gillott, who claims to be a feminist, would do well to listen to the experiences of the many victims of coerced abortion – these include Amada, Laura and Hayley. How many victims will it take for Ms Gillott and others to take this issue seriously?

“It is clear that women are being betrayed by a pro-abortion establishment that puts ideology before the safety of mothers. But SPUC is campaigning every day to ensure that women and their unborn babies are granted the protections they deserve.

“Please visit our dedicated coerced abortion webpage to learn more about this vitally important and pressing issue.”