Buffer zones set to come in around abortion clinics

Buffer zones will come into force around abortion clinics in England and Wales from 31 October.

It will make it illegal to hand out anti-abortion leaflets within the buffer zone or obstruct anyone using or working at an abortion clinic.

The protection zones, which will prohibit protest, will extend to a 150-metre radius around abortion services and those convicted of breaking the new law will face an unlimited fine.

One abortion charity said the move could not "come soon enough" but an anti-abortion organisation warned women would lose access to "vital practical support".

Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips said: “The right to access abortion services is a fundamental right for women in this country, and no-one should feel unsafe when they seek to access this.

“We will not sit back and tolerate harassment, abuse and intimidation as people exercise their legal right to healthcare."

The law was initially approved by Parliament in May 2023. However the government said it would launch a consultation on guidance before permitting the buffer zones to be implemented.

This led one charity to accuse the then-Conservative government of kicking the issue "into the long grass".

Campaigners also raised concern that the draft guidance would still allow "silent prayer" outside abortion clinics.

The Home Office now says the changes will be implemented from the end of October.

Under the law it would be illegal for "anyone to do anything that intentionally or recklessly influences someone’s decision to use abortion services, obstructs them, or causes harassment or distress to someone using or working at these premises," the department said.

It is expected that silent prayer will fall under the scope of the law. Police and prosecutors will get guidance on enforcing the law in the coming weeks.

A similar ban was introduced in Northern Ireland last year and another will come into force in Scotland on 24 September.

Heidi Stewart, head of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said the implementation of the zones "can't come soon enough".

"For years our staff and the women we care for have endured anti-abortion fanatics standing outside clinics for hours on end staring at them accessing or going to provide private medical care, stopping them outside and telling them that abortion is murder."

She added that the government should remember the law was "designed to address the harm caused by so-called silent prayer" and that "all forms of harassment" should be prohibited.

Catherine Robinson, a spokesperson for Right To Life UK, said the zones would mean "vital practical support provided by volunteers outside abortion clinics, which helps to provide a genuine choice, and offers help to women who may be undergoing coercion, will be removed".

Ealing council, in west London, established the country's first buffer zone around a Marie Stopes clinic in 2018 - using a Public Space Protection Order to give local police the power to move, or even fine, anyone who breached it.

The proposal was subjected to a legal challenge but was ultimately allowed to continue.

On social media Rupa Huq, Labour MP for Ealing, said she was pleased that "safe access zones finally becoming reality within next month".

She added: "Ealing introduced first ever one and has led the way. Women up and down the country will now have same protections."

Bishop Sherrington, a spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said the buffer zone legislation discriminates against people of faith.

In a statement he said: "By legislating for and implementing so-called ‘safe access zones’, the UK government has taken an unnecessary and disproportionate step backwards in the protection of religious and civic freedoms.

"Religious freedom includes the right to manifest one’s private beliefs in public through witness, prayer and charitable outreach, including outside abortion facilities."