The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls, Reem Alsalem, has recognised coerced abortion as a form of violence against mothers.
In June 2026, Alsalem presented her report on violence against mothers to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Whilst the theme of coerced abortion is only one aspect of the overall report, any mention it gets is illuminating. Alsalem acknowledges the relationship between the sending of abortion pills through the post and coerced abortion:
“Mothers may also be coerced or forced into abortion, including as a result of abortion-by-mail or telemedicine abortion regimes that do not require the medically supervised administration of abortifacient drugs.”
What’s more, the report explicitly goes on to recommend the criminalisation of coerced abortion:
“…criminalize coerced or forced abortion, including sex- or disability-selective abortion.”
Alsalem even called for UN Member States to “promote the social significance of motherhood”.
Christian legal advocacy group, the European Centre for Law & Justice, described the report as “unprecedented”. They go on to say that they are “pleased that a nuanced and realistic perspective is now included in a UN document”.
SPUC Comment
In August 2025, SPUC welcomed the comments of Reem Alsalem when she referred to surrogacy as exploitative and even called for a global ban on the practice.
Earlier this week we reported on the Scottish National Party (SNP) cancelling SPUC’s planned fringe event at their upcoming annual conference. The event was to highlight the reality of coerced abortion in Scotland and to call for specific coerced abortion legal protections. SPUC will now be protesting outside the SNP Conference on Saturday 17th October, making clear to the Party that such censorship cannot stand.
Commenting on these comments from a UN Expert, SPUC’s Executive Director, Michael Robinson, said the following:
“SPUC welcomes these comments from UN Special Rapporteur, Reem Alsalem, calling for an end to coerced abortion. Coerced abortion is insidious, as it constitutes first and foremost, violence against the unborn child killed in the womb, and then can also constitute violence against the mother.
“The irony that, as the UN’s Special Rapporteur is calling for an end to coerced abortion globally, the Party currently in power in Scotland is deciding that its conference delegates do not even need to hear about coerced abortion, is not lost on me!”
