We regularly give updates of the latest Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO) in England and Wales. As they’ve been going for several years, some orders are simply renewed (usually every three years). Many cover common nuisances such as dog fouling. Such PSPOs are uncontroversial. One slowly emerging trend is anything but – orders imposed around abortion clinics to keep anti-abortion demonstrators at a distance from those accessing the services.
Local government in Liverpool and Bournemouth are looking at such orders, that are already in place in Twickenham in far west London, by Richmond Council; Ealing in west London, the first to make such an order in 2018, pictured; and Manchester.
In Bournemouth the PSPO would cover the British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS) clinic and its users in Ophir Road; a residential street just to the north of the town centre and railway station. Bournemouth Council has gone out to consultation with its proposed PSPOs that like the others in England already would make a ‘buffer zone’ or ‘safe zone’.
Such orders provoke controversy because different rights clash – the right for a woman to attend a clinic for abortion advice; and the right (in law under the Human Rights Act) for anti-abortionists and anyone else to have ‘freedom of expression’ and ‘freedom of assembly’.
The council has set out three options:
Option 1 – Safe Zone with no designated area. That would exclude all campaigning within a defined geographical area around the clinic.
Option 2 – Safe Zone with a designated area. That would also exclude all campaigning within a set area around the clinic, but would also make a ‘designated area’ for campaigners to stand, across the road from the clinic.
Option 3 – Safe Zone with two designated areas, different from option 2 and further away from the clinic. Only up to four protesters could be in a ‘designated area’.
The council in a consultation document went to some lengths to define what protesters (or anyone else) would not be allowed to do in the ‘safe zone’ in a rectangle of streets around the clinic entrance, or indeed in a ‘designated area’; such as ‘audibly pray, recite scripture, genuflect, sprinkle holy water on the ground or cross themselves if they perceive a service-user is passing by’. Nor would campaigners be permitted to do any ‘interfering, intimidating or harassing’ of clinic users or staff, which would include taking their pictures or filming them (which whether by intention or not might make people feel intimidated).
Comment
Councillor Bobbie Dove, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, said: “A public consultation is the best way to find out how people want concerns about activity close to the Bournemouth BPAS Clinic addressed. We are asking for everyone’s opinion on these suggestions. Do people want a safe zone around the clinic, or not? If so, what form of safe zone would work best for the area?
“I ask people to read the accompanying documentation carefully, complete the consultation and share any other ideas that can help guide us towards the right option for the community.”
The consultation runs from July 20 to August 31; and the council adds that a ‘Portfolio Holder is expected in the early autumn.
Background
As a draft Bournemouth Ophir Road PSPO states, PSPOs come under the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014. A constable, police community support officer or city council enforcement officer may issue a fixed penalty notice under section 67 of the Act. Those fined have 14 days to pay the fixed penalty of £100.
To take part in the consultation visit: haveyoursay.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ophir-road-pspo.
Earlier this year Birmingham City Council consulted on a PSPO for a clinic in the south of the city at Kings Norton.
BPAS Chief Executive Clare Murphy has called for national legislation to protect women whilst they access confidential medical treatment and support. She said: ““Anti-choice groups routinely follow women and healthcare professionals as they enter and leave clinics, display graphic banners of dismembered fetuses, and tell women that if they terminate a pregnancy, they risk breast cancer and long-term mental illness. We ask the government how many women have to suffer this cruelty before they act?”
Anti-abortion campaign groups such as SPUC say that they are taking part in ‘entirely peaceful pro-life vigils’, as under human rights law. SPUC also complains of an ‘increasing assault on free speech’ for example in universities, namely ‘pressure to prohibit the public display of all pro-life material and sentiment’, and of media censorship.
In Scotland, Gillian Mackay MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Scotland Region) has proposed a Bill ‘to introduce safe access zones around healthcare settings that provide abortion services’. Visit https://www.bufferzones.scot/consultation. Deadline to take part in the consultation is August 11.
