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Emma Haslett

@emmahaslett.bsky.social

1.9K followers 990 following 660 posts

Journalist covering business, feminism, IVF, reproductive rights and a lot in between. Bylines: BBC, Observer, Prospect, New Statesman, The Persistent. ‘A little whiny and self-involved’. Of course I have a Substack: https://bigfatnegative.substack.com/

bigfatnegative.substack.com

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 2h

It’s because it’s not just in the US that they want to control women’s bodies. It’s everywhere.

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 18h

The ADF was founded in 1993. It waited almost 30 years to roll back Roe vs Wade! It's absolutely mad how patient it is, and how smart it is about these incremental wins it gets. Obviously I would love you to be right but also, we thought Brexit couldn't possibly happen here, and it did.

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 19h

This is 100% my point. We thought it would never happen here... until it did.

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 19h

I think that cynicism is fair but I also think that they have some very clever people on their side and must see an opportunity here.

Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 20h

We hope so! But we said that about Tommy Robinson etc and now look at what's happening.

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Reposted by Emma Haslett

Tom Irwin @tomirwin.bsky.social · 20h

Yep - one to keep a close eye on.

And credit to @bylinetimes.bsky.social, who've been on this for a while:

bsky.app/profile/adam...

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 1d

That New York Times story lots of people are sharing today about Farage's ties to US anti-abortion groups was first reported by @mc00.bsky.social on Byline Times a year ago bylinetimes.com/2024/11/29/n...

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 20h

(I did lol at the fact that Farage said some of this was 'utter bollocks' and then the NYT reporters had to explain what that means)

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 20h

It is also exceptionally well-funded, and its strongest advantage is that it has patience. It will bide its time.

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 20h

If you don't think this affects you -- well, yes it does. Because the ADF was one of the most prominent organisations in the right-wing Christian alliance that toppled Roe vs. Wade, but it hasn't stopped there. It fights against LGBTQIA+ rights, it opposes birth control.

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 20h

This piece suggests Nigel Farage's appearance in Congress last month was orchestrated by the ADF. He's gone from 'no stance' on abortion to calling for a debate on it.

This is how the ADF works: small, incremental successes. The first would be the parliamentary debate Farage has called for.

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 20h

This is a huge story but massively under the radar in the UK.

A US Christian legal org called the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is working to roll back abortion rights here using the same playbook it used in the US: briefing politicians, watching, waiting.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...

They Helped Topple Roe v. Wade. Now Their Sights Are Set on Britain.

www.nytimes.com

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 23h

Bit of a case of tiny violins here, but this is a great chart from the Telegraph - goes to show why London is becoming an increasingly childfree city.

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...

Chart showing a £20k-odd drop in post-tax earnings for parents of two young children in London earning more than £100,000 once childcare is factored in.

Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 1d

... in most areas same-sex couples and single women have to self-fund six rounds of insemination at a clinic to qualify for IVF. By the time they get NHS-funded IVF they're already tens of thousands out of pocket. There is no 'prioritising' happening here.

Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 1d

Just to add: obviously, the real problem is the number of local authorities tightening criteria to qualify for NHS-funded IVF and reducing the number of cycles they'll fund. Some areas don't fund any, in others you need to be under 35 to qualify....

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 1d

- But somehow the NHS is 'prioritising' same sex couples and single women?!?!?!
- My NHS-funded IVF six year-old could smell the bullshit in that headline.

3/3

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 1d

- Single women got 460 cycles (four hundred and sixty) (again, no comparable figure)
- Heterosexual couples make up nearly 90% of all NHS-funded IVF
- 16% of lesbian couples and 18% of single patients had NHS funding for their first IVF treatment, compared with 52% of heterosexual couples

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 1d

It's taken me a full week to process the total absence of data literacy in this. Let's pick it apart:

- 20,540 cycles of NHS-funded IVF, down 25% on 2016
- Heterosexual couples got 19,660 (down from 27,420 in 2016)
- Same-sex female couples got 405 (four hundred and five) (no 2016 figure)

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 2d

Well thank you for posting my piece on it. I think it was one of the first times it was covered in a non-Christian publication.

Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 2d

Like honestly do they think fertility doctors weren’t already trying to fix infertility?

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 5d

Researching a piece on chemical pregnancies and so far papers are suggesting it's more likely if women 'work outside the home' (based on 16 women) and also that the cause "may be dependent on the embryo, the mother, or even, possibly, the father."

This is why fertility medicine needs more funding.

Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 5d

One of the massively under-discussed joys of having children is that they come with a ready-made group of hangers-on. You chat to people in playgrounds and at nursery pick-up and in a thousand weird places that you'd never find yourself otherwise.

Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 5d

Can't get over this gorgeous piece about finding community during maternity leave.

Takes me back to long hours wandering around a place I'd lived for years but where I hardly knew anyone, chatting to people I'd seen often but had never spoken to.

www.thepersistent.com/maternity-le...

Maternity Leave Gave me a Community I Didn't Know I Needed.

When I went on maternity leave, I assumed I’d be lonely. Instead, I connected with the world in a whole new way.

www.thepersistent.com

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Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 6d

I mean I hope not but there’s plenty of time to reveal my true nature.

Emma Haslett @emmahaslett.bsky.social · 6d

a man in a suit and tie says i 'm human in front of a chain link fence

ALT: a man in a suit and tie says i 'm human in front of a chain link fence

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Emma Haslett

🎃It was a Hotblack night🦇 @invalid-handle.com · 6d

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