Anti-abortion activists have taken up positions just outside new buffer zones around reproductive health clinics on the first day a law takes effect.
The safe access zones – which were initially approved by MPs in May last year – ban actions including the handing out of anti-abortion leaflets within 150 meters of centers in England and Wales.
Pro-choice campaigners and providers also welcomed new Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance issued on Thursday, which specifically mentions “keeping a vigil, or prayer, including silent prayer” within the zones. These actions, along with holding Bibles and showing images of fetuses or babies, would have a potential impact on people accessing abortion services.
“The statute provides no defense to those who seek to influence/impede/induce persons within safe access zones on religious or ethical grounds,” the guidance states.
Under the Public Order Act 2023, it is an offense for any person within the buffer zone to do anything that intentionally or recklessly influences or hinders a person’s decision to use abortion services or causes harassment, alarm or anxiety to any person using or works at the abortion service. terrain.
While it is expected a legal challenge could be mounted, campaigners including Labor MP Stella Creasy welcomed what she described as “clear and unambiguous” briefing material provided to police this week.
Kerry Abel, chair of the national pro-choice Abortion Rights campaign, said Thursday marked the start of a “changed landscape” and welcomed the mention of silent prayer, which she said had been used as a “cover” for harassment.
Legislation creating buffer zones around abortion clinics in Scotland came into force last month, while in Northern Ireland it has been in force since September 2023.
Although anti-abortion protesters were absent outside some centers where they were present almost daily, there were indications that they would continue.
The Guardian spoke to three people with rosary beads and a sign on a street near a Marie Stopes International (MSI) center in central London, including one man who said he had ‘stepped out’ to make sure they were outside a radius of 150 meters. radius.
The CPS guidance for prosecutors also noted that a previous High Court ruling in relation to Northern Ireland “recognized that questions of fact of some delicate nature may arise” when it comes to certain conduct.
“Accordingly, a person carrying out any of these activities within a safe access zone will not necessarily commit a criminal offence. Prosecutors will need to consider not only all the facts and circumstances of the specific conduct, but also the context in which the conduct occurs,” it added.
Ailish McEntee, a protective midwife for abortion provider MSI Reproductive Choices, broadly welcomed the new regulations. “This really takes a step back from the narrative that we’re talking about anything other than a medical procedure,” she said.
“Having these safe access zones will remove the element of immediate intimidation and the type of intimidation tactics that patients and our staff have had to deal with. Once we get to know the zones better, we are confident we can work with them and advise women who come to us.”
MPs from the Conservative and Democratic Unionist parties had claimed the bill creating the buffer zones was heading “into thoughtcrime territory”. But they were defeated when they introduced an amendment that would ensure that no offense is committed if someone “engages in consensual communication or in silent prayer” outside clinics or hospitals that offer abortion services.
A similar measure – public space protection orders (PSPOs) – has been in force outside some clinics, but these have been set by councils, rather than being national law.