New research by Amnesty International UK has revealed the rapid growth of a coordinated anti-human rights movement in the United Kingdom. This movement is increasingly targeting reproductive freedoms, access to abortion, and the rights of LGBTI people, using misinformation, fear, and moral panic to undermine hard-won protections.

Between November 2024 and June 2025, Amnesty uncovered an expanding network of organisations working deliberately to weaken human rights standards. These groups aim to roll back equality, restrict bodily autonomy, and redefine who deserves dignity and freedom in society. Many of them draw inspiration, funding models, and tactics from similar movements in the United States.

Amnesty’s analysis mapped 65 anti-rights organisations operating across the UK, including anti-abortion groups, organisations promoting so-called “conversion therapy”, ultra-conservative Christian advocacy groups, and UK branches of powerful US-based organisations. A deeper financial review of 32 of these groups revealed a dramatic rise in spending.

Between 2019 and 2023, these organisations spent a combined £106 million, marking an increase of over 33%. Spending by groups promoting “conversion therapy” rose by a staggering 165%, making it the fastest-growing area of activity. The largest expenditures came from UK branches of US organisations, ultra-conservative Christian policy groups, and anti-abortion organisations.

Particularly concerning is the growth of unregulated “crisis pregnancy centres”, which seek to dissuade pregnant people from accessing abortion care. Spending by these centres increased by 46% over the same period.

One prominent example is the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a US-based Christian organisation that played a key role in overturning Roe v Wade in the United States. Since establishing a UK branch in 2015, ADF has actively promoted policies restricting abortion and LGBTI rights, including defending individuals charged with breaching Safe Access Zones around abortion clinics. Its UK spending increased by 187%, reaching £3.9 million by 2023.

Despite government commitments to ban conversion therapy announced in July 2024, no legislation has yet been passed. Amnesty International UK has stated it will continue to pressure authorities to fulfil this promise.

Amnesty warns that these anti-rights movements seek a society where only certain forms of love are accepted and where people cannot make decisions about their own bodies. However, the organisation stresses that this growing threat can be confronted. Human rights are universal, and when one group’s freedoms are attacked, everyone’s rights are at risk.

Source:
Amnesty International UK – Uncovering a growing anti-human rights movement