Council bosses have paved the way for what is thought to be Britain’s first ever buffer zone banning protesters from gathering outside an abortion clinic.
Pro-life campaigners have been accused of ‘intimidating and harassing’ women as they make their way in and out of the Marie Stopes clinic in Ealing, west London.
A group called the Good Counsel Network holds daily vigils outside the centre in which it displays anti-abortion banners.
Tonight, Ealing Council’s cabinet unanimously voted to begin a public consultation on whether to introduce a public space protection order (PSPO) outside the clinic.
nti-abortion protesters continue a vigil outside the Marie Stopes Abortion Clinic in October
Councillor Binda Rai told the meeting that the protests were forcing vulnerable women seeking a legal treatment to face ’emotional hijacking at the point of access’.
Ms Rai said: ‘The PSPO outside a Marie Stopes clinic is unprecedented nationally. We know that other councils are watching what we do.’
The council were forced to act after 3,593 residents signed a petition calling for a buffer zone banning protesters from congregating outside the clinic.
It comes after hundreds wrote to the council complaining that the pro-life campaigners were ‘intimidating and harassing’ women.
More than 300 people wrote to the authority describing the pro-life protesters as ‘intimidating and harassing’.
The earliest that the eight-week public consultation could begin is January 29.
A council spokesman said a decision on whether or not to implement a PSPO will only be made once the consultation process has been completed.
Marie Stopes UK managing director Richard Bentley noted that ‘a number of local authorities’ are keeping a close eye on what is happening in Ealing while others including Birmingham and Portsmouth are ‘actively exploring’ how to increase protection for women in their areas.
Placards and banners in support of a Public Space Protection Order are placed outside the Marie Stopes Abortion Clinic by a pro-choice group
Describing the situation outside clinics as ‘harassment’, he said: ‘The majority of women who arrive at our clinics have already had a consultation with a trained healthcare professional in which they have talked through their options and have come to a decision that’s right for them.
‘Strangers harassing them as they enter and leave the clinic does nothing to change that. All it does is upset women on what can already be a difficult day.’
Katherine O’Brien, of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, suggested that trying to negotiate or compromise with anti-abortion protesters has not worked.
She said: ‘Tonight’s decision will have implications outside of this one London borough. A number of councils are currently considering how to tackle anti-abortion activity, and this vote makes it clear that a public space protection order, creating a protest-free zone around clinics, is the best way to proceed on a local level.
‘However, while Ealing Council’s action is clearly significant, anti-abortion clinic harassment is a national problem in need of a national solution.’