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Always one of the most eagerly awaited events at London Fashion Week, the Burberry catwalk show attracts A-list celebrities, high-profile fashion editors and the biggest influencers from around the world. Last season, supermodel Naomi Campbell sat alongside Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Jason Statham on the front row to watch chief creative officer Daniel Lee unveil his debut collection, and expectations are high for the designer’s second show, which takes place on September 18. Coveted by consumers across the globe, the luxury label is perhaps the most famous British fashion brand, but it hasn’t always been such a hot property. Ahead of London Fashion Week, which starts on September 15, we look back at the tumultuous history of Burberry… Adventurous origins The brand was founded in 1856 when 21-year-old former draper’s apprentice Thomas Burberry opened his first shop in Basingstoke, Hampshire. Focused on creating outerwear that shielded wearers from typical British weather, the founder invented gabardine – a water-resistant but breathable fabric – and patented it in 1888. “Prior to this, waterproof clothing was made of rubberised cotton which was cumbersome, not breathable and certainly not chic,” explains celebrity fashion stylist Miranda Holder. “In contrast, garbadine’s individual fibres were waterproofed before the weaving process, creating a lighter, more fluid and comfortable piece.” In early examples of celebrity endorsement, Norwegian explorer and zoologist Dr Fridtjof Nansen wore Burberry gabardine when he sailed to the Arctic Circle in 1893, while famed British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton chose the outerwear for three expeditions in the early 1900s. The war years The now-iconic Burberry trench coat was invented during WWI with a range of features designed for military use – including the gun flap and D-rings to carry grenades – many of which remain today. “Each classic Burberry trench is composed of 90 individual, specially shaped components,” says Savile Row tailor Alexandra Wood, founder of Alexandra Wood Bespoke. “The key design elements include its double-breasted front, shoulder epaulettes, beige colour, belted waist, buckled cuffs, storm flap, and a checked lining that the brand has become synonymous with.” The distinctive beige Burberry ‘nova check’ was introduced in the 1920s and is still used as a lining now, with the ever-popular trench coats retailing from around £1,500. “The appeal of the Burberry trench has to be largely due to its adaptability,” says Holder. “The coat’s pale beige colour perfectly lends itself to a myriad of different outfit options, and the flash of luxury lining – nova check or not – makes it instantly recognisable as a luxury piece.” The royal seal of approval In 1955, Queen Elizabeth II granted Burberry a royal warrant as a weatherproofer, and by the Swinging Sixties business was booming, with the brand saying it made one in five coats exported from Britain. The nova check graduated from discreet lining to designer status symbol, with coats, scarves and umbrellas in the beige print proving popular with shoppers in the Seventies. In 1990, Burberry secured its second royal warrant, as an outfitter, from the now King. Noughties notoriety After decades of success, the Burberry shine was tarnished when a more mainstream audience embraced nova check in the late 1990s, snapping up entry-level items and causing the brand to discontinue sales of baseball caps. “The pattern soon filtered down to the high streets and eventually the football terraces – it remains one of the most copied counterfeit designs today,” says Holder. “As a result Burberry’s star fell hard, the brand losing any exclusivity it once had, being unable to control who wore the label.” Paparazzi photos of Eastenders actress Danniella Westbrook in head to toe nova check were seen as the final nail in the coffin, she adds: “Danniella was getting a lot of very negative publicity at the time, relegating the designer to the bins of bad taste.” The catwalk comeback Attempting to rehabilitate the brand as the new millennium dawned, Burberry opened its first store on upmarket Bond Street in 2000 and brought in 29-year-old Christopher Bailey as design director the following year. “Christopher Bailey made a significant impact during his tenure as creative director by modernising Burberry’s image, introducing digital innovations, and collaborating with artists and musicians,” says Wood. “It made Burberry fresher and more relevant and helped to make the brand have an edge, whilst remaining sympathetic to its crisp, British design aesthetic.” Scaling back production of nova check, Bailey brought glamour to the brand and staged blockbuster catwalk shows with live music from artists such as Tom Odell and James Bay. “He updated the classic trench, putting new twists on the heritage design and bringing in supermodel Kate Moss to give it a new lease of life,” Holder says. “Bailey successfully repositioned Burberry as an industry leader and innovator, and as a result, tickets to their catwalk shows were some of the most sought after on the London Fashion Week schedule.” A-list appeal Following the departure of Christopher Bailey with a memorable rainbow-themed catwalk show, Italian designer Riccardo Tisci was appointed chief creative officer at Burberry in 2018. “Riccardo Tisci injected some younger, more contemporary energy into the aesthetic, which was a roaring success,” Holder says. “Influenced by streetwear, his collections attracted younger fans who appreciated his edgier styles, despite critics pointing out a lack of continuity with the brand’s more traditional heritage.” Tisci enlisted model friends such as Kendall Jenner and Irina Shayk to walk the runway and dressed stars including Nicki Minaj and Kate Moss for the Met Gala. He also reintroduced nova check, much to the delight of celebrities and a new generation of Burberry fans. Bradford-born Daniel Lee took over from Tisci and made his debut at London Fashion Week in February 2023. The autumn/winter collection – which didn’t feature any beige trench coats – teamed sweeping coats and chunky knitwear with irreverent accessories like a woolly hat shaped like a duck and hot water bottles carried like clutch bags.

It was a not-so glamourous end to Paris Fashion Week, as a “widespread” outbreak of bed bugs caused panic and disgust in the French capital. Paris authorities sent out a public warning that “no-one is safe”, with the small insects making their way through the city. In recent weeks and months, there have been numerous sightings on public transport and other locations. “No one is safe. You can catch them anywhere and bring them home, and not detect them in time until they have multiplied and spread,” deputy mayor Emmanuel Grégoire, told French TV. Videos posted on social media show insects crawling over seats on the Paris Metro as well as appearing in huge numbers on cinema seats. Some users have also shared their experiences of being bitten by the critters. So, how can you help protect yourself against a bedbug infestation? Here’s everything you need to know. How do you know if you have bed bugs? To find out if you have bed bugs, it’s best to keep an eye out for two things: 1. Bites on your body – these look like little red marks that cause itchy welts. “These welts usually appear in a zigzag pattern,” the American Academy of Dermatology Association says. 2. You should always keep an eye out for signs of bedbugs, this includes odour, specks of blood on bedding, exoskeletons, tiny blackish specks and eggs. • Odour: If you notice a sweet or musty smell in your sleeping area, there might be a heavy infestation in the room, the AADA says. • Specks of blood: Look at your bedding, mattress and furniture – if you notice specks of blood anywhere, the insects might have made their way into your home. • Exoskeletons: The small insects have an outer shell that they shed and leave behind. Check for remains on your bedding, mattress and cushions. • Tiny blackish specks: The blackish specks are a sign of beg bug excrement. • Eggs: “After mating, female bed bugs lay white, oval eggs in cracks and crevices,” the AADA says on its website. These will be in the size of an apple seed, so keep your eyes peeled. How do I treat bedbug bites? The NHS says bedbug bites usually clear up on their own in a week or so but there are a few steps you can take to help you during your recovery process: • Put something cool, like a clean, damp cloth on the affected area to help with the itching and to ease off any swelling. • Be sure to keep the affected area clean to prevent any further infection. • Try your best not to scratch the affected area. You can also get steroid creams like hydrocortisone cream to ease bedbug bites. However, children under 10 and women who are pregnant should get advice from a doctor before using this cream. Another option would be to use antihistamines, these may help if the bites are very itchy and you’re unable to sleep, the NHS says. How to get rid of bed bugs – the do’s and don’ts It can be hard to get rid of the small insects on your own, so you might need to contact your local council or pest control service to get rid of the pesky creatures. Here are some steps you can take to reduce bed bugs: • Remove the affected bedding and clothing – wash on a hot wash of 60c and tumble try on a hot setting for at least 30 minutes. • You can also put the infested bedding and clothing in a plastic bag and place It in your freezer for 3 to 4 days. • It’s time to up your cleaning game – “bedbugs are found in both clean and dirty places, but regular cleaning will help you spot them early,” the NHS adds. Here’s what you should avoid doing: • Do not keep clutter around your bed, try to keep your space as clean as possible. • Do not bring second-hand furniture indoors unless you have cleaned and carefully checked it. • Do not take luggage or clothing indoors without checking it properly – especially if you have come from somewhere where you know there are bedbugs. What are the causes of bedbugs and where do they live? The wingless parasitic insects are found all around the world and may be linked to, more frequent travel, changes in pest control practices and insecticide resistance. Bedbugs can be found in: • Clothing • Luggage • Bedding • Boxes • Box springs • Mattresses • Headboards • Objects near beds According to the Mayo Clinic, they can also be found: • Under peeling pain or loose wallpaper • Under carpeting near baseboards • In upholstered furniture seams • Under light switch plates or electrical outlets Can bed bugs reach the UK? The short answer is yes… Bed bugs have a lifespan of between four to six months and are known to cling onto dirty suitcases – so it is possible that they may hitch a ride on the Eurostar which is just two hours away from London. The Independent’s Barney Davis asked David Cain, founder and MD of Bed Bugs LTD and a qualified microbiologist, whether the bugs could survive the journey. “Easily, yes, without a shadow of a doubt,” he responded. Read the latest on the bed bug infestation in Paris here. Read More Is London prepared for the mutant bedbug invasion that has swarmed Paris? That will bug you: Thousands of mosquitoes take over walls of bathroom Hotel worker shares tips on how to hunt out bed bugs How can I tell if my child has ADHD? Man inundated with criticism after judging mum on her phone Brits think investing is for the super-rich, poll finds

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Fiona Phillips has explained why she temporarily hid her Alzheimer’s diagnosis from her two sons. The former breakfast TV presenter, 62, was told she had the condition 18 months ago after she experienced symptoms of anxiety and brain fog, and has since disclosed her diagnosis to the public. Phillips, who is currently taking part in a drug trial that scientists hope could revolutionise the treatment of the incurable illness, said she was speaking out about her diagnosis in a bid to end the stigma surrounding Alzheimer’s. The journalist, best known for presenting the ITV Breakfast programme GMTV Today, toldThe Mirror that she was reluctant to tell her two sons, Nat, 24, and Mackenzie, 21 – who she shares with her husband, This Morning boss Martin Frizell – about her condition. “I just didn’t want to make a big thing out of it where we all sit down as a family and announce we’ve got something to tell them,” she said, “And I was worried they might be embarrassed in front of their friends or treat me in a different way. And it’s not like I’m doing anything out of character.” Phillips, who took part in BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, shared that she and Frizell had blood tests to check whether their children could inherit the disease. “We wanted to know in case we needed to prepare the boys to make some difficult decisions later in life”, Frizell told the publication. “When the results came back as negative it was a huge moment – such an enormous sense of relief. There’s no Alzheimer’s on my side of the family and thank goodness it seems the boys have not inherited from Fiona’s side of the family.” The mother-of-two has now spoken out about the realities of the condition. “There is still an issue with this disease that the public thinks of old people, bending over a stick, talking to themselves,” Phillips said. The presenter said that she is no longer allowed to drive but walks each day: “I’m still here, getting out and about, meeting friends for coffee, going for dinner with [my husband] and walking every day.” The news comes as the Office for National Statistics said that dementia and Alzheimer’s disease were the leading cause of death in the UK in 2022. The couple began to notice something was wrong when she developed “crippling anxiety” towards the end of 2021. Since Phillips had not experienced this before, they thought it might be menopausal symptoms. “We got in touch with a menopause specialist who took her under their wing and put her on HRT but while that improved some symptoms, the brain fog remained,” Frizell said. This prompted the couple to seek further help, including months of cognitive tests before a lumbar puncture to assess spinal fluid revealed she had Alzheimer’s. Phillips is taking a new drug called Miridesap, which scientists hope could slow or even reverse the illness. The drug is administered three times a day with tiny needles and is being trialled by the University College Hospital (UCH) in London. Phillips has no idea if she is among the cohort reviewing a placebo or not but still believes that partaking in the trail is important for eventually finding a cure for the disease. “Even the people we see for the check ups don’t know if Fiona is on the real drug or a placebo,” Frizell said. “It’s been weeks now and I like to think her condition is stabilising but I am too close to know really, that could just be my wishful thinking.” Read More Fiona Phillips, 62, reveals she has Alzheimer’s disease Woman exits plane after tirade about passenger who is ‘not real’: ‘Final Destination vibes’ Jay-Z’s mother Gloria Carter ‘marries longtime partner Roxanne Wilshire’ Fiona Phillips, 62, reveals she has Alzheimer’s disease This is how Novak Djokovic is preparing to win Wimbledon How tennis could be harming your body – and why it does you good

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Robyn Reid was just 15 years old when a doctor fought her down onto a table, ripped off her clothes, tied her arms and legs with restraints and forced her to undergo an abortion against her will. It was 31 January 1996, and the teenager had spent the last three months hiding her pregnancy from her grandparents as she prepared for a new life raising her baby. When they found out, Robyn’s grandmother had driven her from their home in New Jersey to a notorious west Philadelphia clinic nicknamed “Club Abortion”. “I was determined to keep the baby,” Robyn, now 40, tells The Independent. “My plan was to go to the doctor and refuse to have the abortion as I thought ‘no one can make me.’ My 15-year-old brain thought there wasn’t even a chance that would happen to me. “Inside the clinic, I remember being in the room and the doctor walked in and said: ‘Why aren’t you undressed?’ When I told him ‘I’m not having an abortion’, he shouted: ‘I don’t have time for this s***.’ “He then walked out of the room and came back in with my grandmother… Then he started pulling my clothes off.” Robyn, a small 90-pound teenager, fought with all her strength. “I was fighting him as he pulled my clothes off and held me down,” she says. “He was tying my arms down with straps and, then every time he tied my legs down, I managed to pull my arms free. It went on and on like that – it was a physical fight.” In the end, she could fight no more. “He overpowered me to the point that I could no longer move. I remember looking up at the light and saying to myself: ‘Just don’t go to sleep’. Then he gave me a needle,” she says. “The next thing I knew, I woke up 12 hours later and I was back home in New Jersey and was no longer pregnant.” Sobbing, she adds: “I’ll never forget that day.” It would be years before Robyn would learn that she was one of countless women given illegal or dangerous abortions at the hands of a man who some would describe as a “butcher of women”, others as “one of America’s biggest serial killers”. More than 14 years passed before the truth of Kermit Gosnell’s “house of horrors” was finally exposed to the world. ‘House of horrors’ On 18 February 2010, the FBI carried out a raid on the Women’s Medical Society on Lancaster Avenue, west Philadelphia, as part of an investigation into the illegal sale of prescription drugs. On entering the clinic, the federal agents had no idea of the extent of the horrors they would find inside. Semi-conscious and heavily-sedated women lay on dirty recliners and bloodstained blankets moaning in pain. A mix of blood and cat feces covered the floors – the latter from the flea-ridden animals roaming the space where women were undergoing medical procedures. Jars up jars of severed baby feet were stacked inside the refrigerators. By the end of the search, authorities had found 47 aborted fetuses and infants stored at the facility – including one late-term infant frozen inside a water bottle. The dangerous conditions and unspeakable scenes were only the start. In the four decades prior, Gosnell had been running his “house of horrors” clinic in a deprived neighbourhood in west Philadelphia. It was a place where poor, migrant, minority ethnic, and vulnerable women could pay cash to have late-term abortions well after Pennsylvania’s legal limit of 24 weeks. A place for women who – due to poverty, lack of healthcare and other factors driven by inequality – ultimately had nowhere else to turn. Or for women and young girls like Robyn who had their right to choose taken away from them with no questions asked. In many cases, it wasn’t even an abortion clinic - but rather an infanticide clinic where babies were delivered at near-full term and then murdered. While Robyn’s forced abortion was within the legal timeframe in the state of Pennsylvania, countless other women underwent the procedure at Gosnell’s clinic in the seventh, eighth and even ninth month of pregnancy. These babies were delivered alive at full term, breathing and moving. It was then that Gosnell – and sometimes colleagues who had zero medical training – carried out what he called “ensuring fetal demise” by a procedure he named “snipping”. This “procedure” involved sticking a pair of scissors into the back of the newborn baby’s neck and cutting the spinal cord, severing the brain from the body. It was murder. As the 2011 grand jury report investigating Gosnell’s actions states: “This case is about a doctor who killed babies and endangered women. What we mean is that he regularly and illegally delivered live, viable babies in the third trimester of pregnancy – and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors. “The medical practice by which he carried out this business was a filthy fraud in which he overdosed his patients with dangerous drugs, spread venereal disease among them with infected instruments, perforated their wombs and bowels – and, on at least two occasions, caused their deaths.” And for years and years, Gosnell got away with it. ‘Butcher of women’ It’s impossible to know exactly how many babies or women died at Gosnell’s hands. Baby Boy A – as he was referred to in the grand jury report and at trial – was around six pounds when Gosnell induced the labour of his 17-year-old mother at 30 weeks of pregnancy and he was born breathing and moving. Gosnell “snipped” the baby’s spine and dumped him in a shoe box, joking that the baby was so big that he could “walk me to the bus stop”. Baby Boy B was at least in week 28 of pregnancy when he was aborted and his body placed in a one-gallon spring-water bottle and frozen. Baby C lived and breathed for about 20 minutes before one of Gosnell’s workers “snipped” their neck. Baby D was born in a toilet and was moving when they was killed. At least two women are also known to have died. The first woman, Semika Shaw, died of sepsis in 2002 after Gosnell botched the abortion procedure and perforated her uterus. She was 22. The second fatality was Karnamaya Mongar, a 41-year-old refugee from Bhutan who had recently arrived in the US from a resettlement camp and gone to the clinic for an abortion in 2009. She was given an unrecorded amount of the dangerous – but cheap – sedative Demarol. When she stopped breathing, there was no working defibrillator to try to get her heart working again. Instead of immediately calling 911 and performing life-saving measures on Mongar, clinic staff tried to cover up what was happening by staging the scene to appear as though she had been undergoing a safe, legal procedure. By the time she got proper medical attention, it was too late. Her cause of death was found to be an overdose of sedatives. On 15 May 2013 – three years after the FBI raid – Gosnell was finally convicted over some of the deaths and horrifying goings-on at his clinic. He was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Babies A, C and D, involuntary manslaughter in Mongar’s death, 24 counts of performing an abortion beyond the 24-week limit and numerous other charges. He is currently serving three life sentences behind bars in State Correctional Institution Huntingdon. Eight other clinic workers including Gosnell’s wife were also convicted on various charges – some of them of murder. Battle over reproductive rights There’s no doubt that the case of Kermit Gosnell is a real life horror story. But, it’s also a key chapter in the wider story of America’s battle over reproductive rights. For anti-abortion activists, groups and politicians, the case became one of their strongest weapons to push for abortion bans, shorter term limits and tighter restrictions on abortion clinics. Following his arrest, the name Gosnell instantly became fodder for the right to argue that tougher laws and fewer abortion rights was what the country needed. When he introduced a resolution calling for Congress to investigate abortion clinics in 2013, Republican Senator Mike Lee called Gosnell’s case a “wake-up call” for the nation. Texas Governor Rick Perry meanwhile described Gosnell’s case as “the awakening of a sleeping giant in this country to protect babies”. And in many cases, the rhetoric appeared to work. By the time Gosnell was convicted in May 2013, stricter abortion laws had already been rolled out in several states, with Arkansas banning most abortions after 12 weeks and North Dakota after six. Tougher laws were also making their ways through the legislatures of other states including North Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin and Ohio. What Gosnell’s case had done was give the anti-abortion movement “credibility” in its efforts to “demonise” abortion doctors, clinics and – ultimately – abortion rights altogether, says Mary Ziegler, UC Davis Martin Luther King Jr Professor of Law and an expert in the politics of reproduction and healthcare in the US. “His case lent credibility to the anti-abortion arguments of the era,” she tells The Independent. “It wasn’t the case that what he did changed how anti-abortion groups were arguing… Before this case, they were already trying to demonise anti-abortion doctors. But until then, it had been easier to dismiss what they were saying as a political strategy.” For years, the anti-abortion movement had framed abortion as murder and pro-choice advocates as people who supported “killing babies”, despite late-term abortions already being illegal. In Gosnell, the anti-abortion movement for the first time had a real-life figure that they could point to as an example to support this argument. “Kermit Gosnell made it easy for anti-abortion groups to push this narrative,” says Professor Ziegler. “After Kermit Gosnell was discovered, these anti-abortion groups said ‘this is representative of what all abortion doctors are like and of what abortion in general is like’. “Which of course wasn’t true but it made it easier for them to demonise abortion providers more than in the past as they now had a prominent example. This was no longer hypothetical. “So it was framed that, in order to prevent Kermit Gosnell from happening again there was a need to shut down abortion and abortion clinics. The idea that the next Kermit Gosnell could be out there lent credibility to this argument.” She adds: “The movement needed villains to tell the story and in modern history he was the most famous.” The clinic itself became and continues to be used as a physical reminder of the horrors of what went on inside. Indeed in 2019, anti-abortion groups sought to buy the clinic on Lancaster Avenue and turn it into a crisis pregnancy centre, reported local outlet WHYY. The efforts appear to have stalled as four years later the looming building is still owned by Gosnell himself – with the 82-year-old racking up tax bills on the property from prison. There’s also the regular memorials left by anti-abortion advocates at the Laurel Hill Cemetery, which became the burial site of the 47 fetus and infant remains found in the clinic which became known as the “Gosnell babies”. The forgotten stories Meanwhile, what was entirely lost from the story was the women – and why they had ended up at the inhumane clinic on Lancaster Avenue in the first place. The clinic largely served a poor neighbourhood of west Philadelphia with most patients being low-income, migrant or ethnic minority women. They didn’t have access to quality healthcare. Paying cash for what was essentially a backstreet abortion was the only option available to them in their current predicaments. “These were people who were shut out of adequate healthcare and were not able to get what they needed from society,” says Professor Ziegler. “There are gaps in the healthcare system such that some people were so desperate to turn to that – but very quickly that dimension of the Kermit Gosnell story vanished. “It became just that abortion providers are butchers and they’re in it for the money – and this being a story about inequality in America just dropped off… the women were lost from the debate.” Robyn perhaps proves this when she tells The Independent that of the multiple times she has been asked to share her story about what happened to her at Gosnell’s clinic, until now no one has ever asked her where she personally stands in the abortion debate. The experience at Gosnell’s “house of horrors” has left her with complex views. “I think in one way I didn’t have a right to choose – my choice was taken away from me that day. So I don’t want to take that choice away from other women,” she says. “But going through that also made me want to stick with more conservative values as in a world where abortion doesn’t exist this wouldn’t have happened.” She adds: “I am more in support of anti-abortion laws than not… but I also believe in a women’s right to choose… I don’t think they are opposites, you can believe in the right to choose but also in the right to life.” West Philadelphia’s worst kept secret As well as the voices of women like Robyn, something else was also lost from the story of Gosnell’s “house of horrors”: the irony that what he did was already illegal. The reality is that abortion bans would not have stopped Gosnell because he was already knowingly breaking the law. Gosnell knew what he was doing was wrong, but didn’t care. And, disturbingly, it appears that authorities also knew at least in part what was going on as well. Over the years, several complaints had been made about Gosnell and the clinic’s reputation as an “abortion mill” had become the worst kept secret in the city – and yet Gosnell continued to work unchecked for decades. When Gosnell’s clinic – and what went on inside – became national news in 2010, one of the biggest questions asked was, how he had gotten away with it? The findings of the grand jury report revealed a disturbing lack of enforcement and willingness to turn a blind eye by multiple government agencies. Pennsylvania’s Department of Health, which was responsible for auditing the clinic, had information which should have led to its shutdown but it failed to act, the grand jury found. In 1993, the agency had stopped carrying out inspections at abortion clinics – a move the grand jury report blamed on “political reasons” when the pro-choice Republican Governor Tom Ridge took office. Yet, even though the inspections stopped, the alarm was still raised through several complaints sent to the department from other medical centres, from lawyers representing women, and even from an insurance company representing the 22-year-old victim who died on his operating table. The grand jury report outlines one principle reason for why the issues were ignored time and again. “Bureaucratic inertia is not exactly news. We understand that. But we think this was something more,” it reads. “We think the reason no one acted is because the women in question were poor and of color, because the victims were infants without identities, and because the subject was the political football of abortion.” Historically, Black and Hispanic women face greater barriers to access to all aspects of reproductive healthcare. Hispanic and Black women face a disproportionately higher risk of unintended pregnancy, according to research in Contraception and Reproductive Medicine journal. Black women make up 40 per cent of abortion patients – the largest share of all ethnic groups – while also having a maternal mortality rate 2.6 times higher than white women, CDC data shows. Several other systemic barriers also often exist, such as lack of heath insurance, lower income to afford quality healthcare – not to mention longstanding discrimination in the healthcare industry towards Black women. The role that race and inequality played is something that’s not lost on Robyn, who is Black but grew up in a white, suburban middle-class neighbourhood. “One of the things it’s put in perspective for me is how, being a Black person, it seems like our abortions are not as important,” she says. “I am Black but grew up in a white neighbourhood and there were always protests outside the abortion clinics there. “There was no one protesting outside Gosnell’s clinic. That makes me a little angry like ‘where were you guys when the doctor violated me?’ “It’s a bit like no one cares if you go and have an abortion in the slums but not here in our nice white neighbourhood.” Now she is older and Gosnell’s crimes have come to light, Robyn says she believes it was Gosnell’s reputation which caused her grandmother to take her there. “I lived in New Jersey where there were multiple abortion clinics. I think he was purposely chosen because he had a bad reputation that if you went there any hour of the day, no matter how far along or in what circumstances he would get the job done,” she says. The grand jury report revealed that – while the clinic was depraved all round – women of colour were subjected to worse treatment than white women at Gosnell’s clinic. While white women were taken to the one clean room in the building, women of colour would be taken to filthy rooms, according to testimony from a former employee. “I do wonder if I was a white person might there have been more concern?” questions Robyn. And yet – as this month marks ten years on from Gosnell’s conviction – the biggest impact of the case is still its use as a tool to try to crack down on abortion access. Kermit Gosnells in a post-Roe world While it’s impossible to know what weight Gosnell’s crimes had on the overturning of Roe v Wade, Professor Ziegler says the same strategy of “demonising” abortion doctors and clinics is still very much alive and well today. Pointing to North Carolina’s latest abortion law – a 12-week ban on almost all procedures in the state – she says “you can see a lot of the same elements now” in the language and argument for the ban. “It’s still a leading strategy of the anti-abortion movement to seek restrictions on the clinics… we still see it happening today but in a different context,” she says. The long-term impact of the case in the wider abortion debate can be seen in other ways too. For one, Gosnell’s case took the debate around reproductive rights out of the doctor’s clinic and placed it firmly in the criminal courts. Here was a doctor on trial for the procedures he had performed on women. Now, in a post-Roe world, doctors are faced with the threat of criminal charges as they struggle to navigate new laws – many of which have created uncertainty about the legality of procedures even where women have miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies. That said, the demon doctor narrative is becoming harder for the anti-abortion movement to use to justify tighter regulations and outright bans, says Professor Ziegler. In the months since Roe v Wade was overturned, Republican-led states have passed increasingly restrictive abortion bans and pushed back access to abortion for millions of Americans. With abortion severely restricted or banned in some states, it’s hard to argue for even more restrictions. Also, when around half of all abortions in the US are now medication abortions – telehealth – the “demon doctor” narrative also doesn’t fit the mold. “The demon doctor idea doesn’t work as well today as people have more active roles and more autonomy in their abortions,” explains Professor Ziegler. “And also there are now a lot of places where abortion is a crime so doctors aren’t performing them. “So what’s happening is that women are having miscarriages or need emergency treatment and if a doctor tries to deliver care they risk going to prison – those are the stories we’re hearing now so the Kermit Gosnell story doesn’t fit.” Rather than abortion bans and restrictions preventing a Kermit Gosnell case from ever happening again, the fear is that it will actually lead to a world where more Kermit Gosnells come to exist. With some lawmakers banning almost all abortions in their states – and some also banning out-of-state travel for abortions – underground, backstreet abortions may become the reality in lieu of legal, safe options. And women may have no other option other than turning to the next Kermit Gosnell. “Even when abortion was legal, you had butchers like Kermit Gosnell,” says Professor Ziegler. “Now there’s the fear that people will be forced into unsafe situations in places where abortion is a crime. It’s not just abortions it’s also ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages and people will be more likely to return to people like Kermit Gosnell if they can’t access healthcare.” Professor Ziegler points out that while healthcare and abortion providers and groups have worked to ensure women in states with bans aren’t cut off from treatment – through medication access or travel funds – the now confusing and ever-changing laws mean people will struggle to navigate legality and know what they can and cannot do within the law. “Wherever abortion is criminalised or where people don’t have easy access to abortion, there’s the risk of more dangerous abortions happening,” she says. “Where you don’t have easy access to get out of state for an abortion or when you’re unsure what the law is, I would expect to see more dangerous abortions happening. “Women left resorting to doing dangerous things on their own – and to turning to more people like Kermit Gosnell.” Read More South Carolina enacts six-week abortion ban, threatening access across entire South Indiana doctor faces discipline hearing over 10-year-old Ohio girl's abortion Pending abortion restrictions strain providers in US Southeast Doctor who provided abortion care to 10-year-old rape survivor reprimanded in case that drew national scrutiny Judge halts South Carolina’s new stricter abortion law until state Supreme Court review DeSantis wants to model America after Florida. Civil rights groups are sounding the alarm on his ‘hostile’ agenda