Your Weekly Wrap Up | 16 - 22 June 💦
From abortion reform and assisted dying to Pride resistance and attacks on LGBTQ+ mental health support — this week’s wrap-up covers the headlines shaping sex, rights, and health.
Self-care note: This newsletter includes discussion of homophobia, violence against women, poor mental health, suicide, and euthanasia. If you find this distressing or triggering, remember to take it at your own pace. You may prefer to read small sections, wait until you feel ready to read it all, or choose not to read it at all.
It’s been hot in Glasgow — and not just the weather.
As the city swelters, this week’s stories turn up the pressure in other ways: abortion reform, cuts to crisis support, Pride protests, and the fight to protect people from violence; in policy, online, and at home.
From reproductive justice to mental health and beyond, here’s what you need to know.
Family of Phoenix Spencer-Horn raise thousands for Women’s Aid 💜
The family of 21-year-old Phoenix Spencer-Horn, who was killed by her former partner in East Kilbride last November, have raised thousands of pounds for Women’s Aid services across Scotland.
Glasgow Women’s Aid expressed their deep thanks:
Phoenix should still be here. But her legacy is one that’s lifting others up, and that matters. Turning pain into action. Refusing to let her name be forgotten.
Source: STV News
NHS to DNA test all newborns to assess disease risk 🧬
Under new NHS plans, every baby born in England could have their DNA sequenced to help predict their risk of developing hundreds of genetic diseases.
The move is part of a 10-year plan to shift the NHS from treating illness to preventing it, with £650 million being invested in genomic research by 2030.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting says the plan will “leapfrog disease,” helping people live longer, healthier lives by catching problems before symptoms begin.
DNA screening would use umbilical cord blood samples taken at birth to identify conditions like muscular dystrophy, liver disorders, and other treatable early-childhood diseases.
Experts have praised the long-term potential but urged caution. Prof Robin Lovell-Badge of the Francis Crick Institute said more genetic counsellors will be essential to help families understand the results:
It's not just having the information, it's conveying the information in an appropriate, helpful way.
The initiative builds on a study launched last October to map the genomes of 100,000 babies. It aims to make England one of the world’s leading hubs for preventative genomic medicine.
Source: BBC News
MPs voted to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales ⚖️
In a landmark decision, on Tuesday 17 MPs have voted to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales. With 379 voting in favour and 137 voting against, MPs approved an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill put forward by the Labour backbencher Tonia Antoniazzi. The amendment will not change the current rules and criteria to access abortion but individuals who terminate their own pregnancy will not face criminal prosecution.
Advocates welcomed the decision, including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists whose president Professor Ranee Thakar said: “This sends a powerful signal that women’s rights and autonomy matter.”
The bill now must go through both the Commons and the Lords, and receive royal assent before it can become law.
Source: The Guardian
Violent porn showing strangulation to be banned 🚫
Pornography depicting choking or strangulation during sex will soon be illegal under changes to the UK’s Crime and Policing Bill.
The move follows a government-commissioned review which warned that violent porn has helped normalise dangerous sexual behaviours, especially towards women.
Minister Alex Davies-Jones said the law change is part of efforts to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. “Depicting strangulation during sex is not only dangerous, but also degrading,” she said.
While it’s already illegal to possess porn showing life-threatening acts, the new law will explicitly ban any material that portrays strangulation, even if it’s presented as consensual.
Source: The Independent
UK parliament votes to legalise assisted dying 🪦
In a landmark decision, MPs have voted in favour of a bill that would legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults in England and Wales — the UK’s most significant social shift in a generation.
The vote passed narrowly, 314 to 291, and the bill now heads to the House of Lords. If passed, it would give mentally competent adults with six months or less to live the legal right to end their lives with medical assistance.
The bill allows for decisions to be approved by a panel of professionals, including a psychiatrist, a senior legal figure, and a social worker. Supporters say it will provide dignity and choice for people suffering at the end of life. Opponents raise concerns about coercion, especially for disabled or vulnerable people, and the risk that better palliative care could be deprioritised.
Source: Reuters
Miscarriage support services inadequate in Ireland, a new survey found 🇮🇪
The vast majority of women who have experienced a miscarriage are dissatisfied with the support, quality of information, and aftercare provided by healthcare professionals, the Irish Examiner National Women’s Health Survey found.
Nearly half of the respondents who had suffered a miscarriage rated the information provided by healthcare professionals as poor or very poor. Additionally, 36 per cent criticised the quality of care they received, while 58 per cent expressed dissatisfaction with the availability of counselling and 60 per cent highlighted an inadequate support after returning home.
Conducted by Ipsos B&A, the survey interviewed 1,000 women across Ireland and revealed that approximately one in four women in Ireland has experienced a miscarriage.
Source: Irish Examiner
Budapest Pride will be organised despite ban, mayor said 🏳️🌈
Despite the ban introduced by the government in March, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony said in a video on Monday that the Pride will be held on June 28 and that the city would team up with organisers.
The event will be a particular version of Pride, as the mayor said, as it will be a municipal event to celebrate freedom: this will exempt them from needing permits from the authorities.
“In this city, there are no first- or second-class citizens”, the mayor said, “So in this city, neither freedom, nor love can be banned, and the Budapest Pride cannot be banned either.”
In March 2025, the government banned Pride events and authorised police to use facial recognition cameras to identify people attending them.
Source: Reuters
Nigerian university under fire for bra checks before exams 🚫
Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) in southwestern Nigeria has sparked outrage after a video surfaced showing female students being physically checked for bras before being allowed to sit exams.
The viral clip, filmed on campus, shows women apparently touching students’ chests as they queue for entry. One student appears to be removed from the line after a check.
Student leaders defended what they called a long-standing “no bra, no entry” dress code, claiming it promotes a “respectful and distraction-free environment.” But many have slammed the policy as degrading, misogynistic, and a violation of bodily autonomy.
Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong said the checks could amount to sexual harassment: “Physically examining the bodies of students to determine whether they are wearing a bra or not is not only degrading but also undignifying.”
Students and advocates across Nigeria are calling for immediate action and a full end to invasive enforcement of dress codes that target women and non-conforming bodies.
Source: CNN
US to shut down LGBTQIA+ youth suicide prevention service 🇺🇸
The Trump administration will soon end specialised services for LGBTQIA+ youth on the 988 suicide prevention hotline. The Trevor Project, an organisation focused on suicide prevention for LGBTQIA+ youth and one of the nonprofits administering the services, said it received official notice that the programme will end on July 17.
This decision, confirmed by the federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), has been described as a direct attack to LGBTQIA+ young people, as the hotline will remain operational while only the LGBTQIA+-specific support services will be discontinued.
LGBTQIA+ young people are among the most vulnerable individuals. According to the Trevor Project’s 2024 U.S. National Survey, in 2023 39 per cent of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. Of these, 46 per cent were transgender and nonbinary people.
Source: NPR
Australia lifts ban on blood and plasma donation to LGBTQIA+ people🩸
Men who have sex with men and transgender women who have sex with men will be no longer banned from donating blood and plasma in Australia, the national blood donation service Lifeblood announced. The new rules, which are expected to increase potential donors by 625,000 people, bring Australia in line with other countries, including the UK and Canada. However, Lifeblood said that Australia will become the first country to remove restrictions on plasma donation linked to sexual activity.
The ban had been introduced to limit the risk of HIV transmission, but research conducted by Lifeblood has shown that lifting the ban would have no impact on the safety of blood and plasma.
Source: BBC
That’s all for this week’s wrap up, but plenty is happening beyond the headlines. From workshops to book clubs, here’s what’s coming up across Scotland.
Join our Sex Positive Reading Group!
📌Glasgow Zine Library 📆 24 June 💸 Free! ⏰7-8.30pm
The Sex Positive Reading Group is for anyone interested in learning more about sex education, sexual health, how we relate to the people around us, and how society impacts that. We welcome people of all genders, sexualities and ages in a non-pressured, non-academic setting.
If you have accessibility requests or other queries, send us an email at events@pillowtalk.scot.
Other spicy (and cuddly) events happening soon🌶️
Imagine a gender equal world - help write women onto Wikipedia! Edinburgh, 27 June.
Telling the story: Women’s activism in our collections. Edinburgh, 31 July.