Is harassment by religious fanatics right outside abortion clinics actually a problem anywhere in the West but the US? Europe doesn't really have the US-type fundamental evangelical movements at all, and Catholics are for the most part a pretty chill bunch.
A massive problem with political issues in the UK is that the US constantly tries to export their bullshit to us. So yes, unfortunately there is a problem with it - although no where near the scale of the US. There's also a problem that failed politicians on the far right in the UK can essentially fund their entire political projects with support from US interests trying to push us further right.
USA's biggest export has always been culture. Western countries without legally-mandated (weaker) cultures have pretty much always just absorbed American culture wholesale. We are seeing Canada's attempt to protect a Canadian identity now with laws that Netflix and Spotify have to carry at least 30% Canadian-made programming.
But there's only so much Bieber and Rush you can listen to and I honestly can't even think of a Canadian television show.
So you can see that this frog has already been boiled.
Define Canadian made, because I feel like half the time I look up someone working in Hollywood, they grew up in Canada (or UK). They choose to work in Hollywood for obvious reasons.
The top five US exports are Gasoline and Other Fuels, Crude Petroleum, Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) and Other Natural Gases, Civilian Aircraft Parts and Passenger Vehicles.
And Canada has always had Canada-first set asides.
There is no straightforward answer that I can link you to, but it boils down to attempts to export their flavour of politics, types of news outlets (GB News), cultural controversies (hot-button issues that are mostly an issue in the US), and to some extent overall culture (via Hollywood & Disney productions mostly, IMO).
It would be a mistake to lump these two broad groups of influences together. Mostly because while they're both intentional, paid campaigns, they're paid for by very different groups.
It would also be a mistake to assume any of this is what one might call natural cultural contamination.
Are you sure all of that is not just a consequence of economies of scale and using a common language?
It does not take a grand conspiracy to influence businesses to seek more profit by selling their near zero marginal
cost media to other English speaking countries.
But I also would not characterize it as “trying to export their bullshit”.
It is UK residents deciding to spend their time and money on content made by/for Americans, so would it equivalently be described as “UK trying to import the US’s bullshit”?
Same here; reactionary right-wingers are importing US-style culture wars out of nowhere. Suddenly abortion is a big red issue when it hasnt been for 2 decades.
But don't be naive. If they are importing this whole mess, it must mean it works to some extend.
I think there are still protests outside clinics, but we still have the most permissive abortion law in Europe - 24 week limit, whereas the most common time limit is 12 weeks [1]
Of course, you do also get ridiculous police overreach where a woman was arrested for praying silently in her head outside an abortion clinic.
Worth noting, if calling UK abortion law "the most permissive", that it is actually still technically illegal to choose to have an abortion just because you don't wish to give birth. You need a medical reason to get one, luckily most doctors agree with the logic of "my mental health will be harmed if I can't have an abortion" so generally speaking it's effectively legal...
UK: there were regular demonstrations outside of a clinic in my city some years ago. Not nice. Residential area so local householders not happy either.
There was an abortion clinic in Bloomsbury square that had a core group of protesters outside it a few years ago. But generally most people in the UK feel like it's a personal decision for the mother to make and it's certainly not a left/right issue like in the US.
