Buffer zones outside abortion clinics in England and Wales will come into force at the end of October – including a ban on people holding silent prayer vigils outside.
The move comes more than a a year since MPs voted to bring in legislation seeking to ensure women do not face harassment outside clinics.
Delays on implementation under the previous Conservative government centred around the issue of silent prayer, with the new Labour administration now scrapping draft guidance which would have allowed it within proposed ‘safe access zones’.
Campaigners supporting the new measures had raised concerns the law would be watered down in practice if silent prayer was not also banned.
Anti-abortion groups argued that doing so would threaten their rights to freedom of expression and religious belief.
Buffer zones outside abortion clinics in England and Wales will come into force at the end of October – pro-life campaigners are pictured at a protest in London on September 7 this year
Silent prayer vigils outside abortion clinics are set to be outlawed – supporters are seen here mounting a demonstration in support of pro-life activists in Birmingham in February 2023
A pro-life demonstrator with rosary beads is pictured outside the Marie Stopes Clinic in Belfast in January 2016
The new law prohibits protests within 150m of clinics or hospitals providing abortion services in the two nations as part of the Public Order Act, which received royal assent on May 2 last year.
The Home Office has said the zones will come into effect from October 31.
The law will make it illegal for a person to do anything deemed to intentionally or recklessly influence someone’s decision to use abortion services, obstructs them, or causes harassment or distress to someone using or working at such premises.
It is understood silent prayer could come within this scope, while the police will be given discretion to decide whether behaviour meets the threshold for prosecution which carries the maximum penalty of an unlimited fine.
Guidance will be published in the coming weeks by the College of Policing and Crown Prosecution Service to ‘ensure there is clarity and consistency with the enforcement of the new offence’, the Home Office said.
The maximum penalty for anyone convicted is an unlimited fine.
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, which is why we have fast-tracked this measure to get it up and running without further delay.
‘For too long abortion clinics have been without these vital protections, and this Government is determined to do all we can do to make this country a safer place for women.’
Buffer zones outside abortion clinics in England and Wales will come into force at the end of next month, safeguarding inister Jess Phillips has said
Women’s health minister Baroness Merron said: ‘The safety and wellbeing of women accessing abortion services remains our priority.
‘No women should feel scared or threatened when accessing these services, and it is only right they are protected from any abuse or harassment.
‘This Government will continue to work closely with NHS England, abortion providers and the wider sector to ensure that women have access to safe, high quality abortion services.’
Heidi Stewart, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said she was ‘hopeful’ that concerns around silent prayer have been recognised.
She added: ‘For the safety, dignity, and wellbeing of women accessing healthcare, we must ensure that all forms of harassment are prohibited outside abortion clinics.’
Louise McCudden, from MSI Reproductive Choices, said the new zones would protect women and frontline healthcare workers.
She said: ‘Whatever your personal views are on abortion, nobody should be harassed while accessing healthcare.’
But Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK, said the zones threatened to remove ‘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’.
And Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for faith-based advocacy group ADF International, branded the new laws ‘disproportionate and ill-defined’.
He said: ‘Already, three individuals have been prosecuted within the last two years for nothing more than praying silently in their minds near an abortion clinic.
‘We all stand strongly against harassment, but the ban on “influencing” mandated by the Government is open to abuse.
‘Unless there is clarity that there is a protected human right to freedom of thought, and to engage in consensual conversation, innocent people could be wrongly criminalised.’
Legislation creating buffer zones around abortion clinics in Scotland, banning any protests or vigils there, is due to come into force next Tuesday.
In Northern Ireland, safe access zones at health service locations which offer abortion and birth control services came into effect last September.
A Christian charity volunteer was last month awarded a £13,000 payout and an apology from police after being arrested for praying silently outside an abortion clinic.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce issued a claim against West Midlands Police for two wrongful arrests and false imprisonments; assault and battery in relation to an intrusive search of her person; and for a breach of her human rights in 2022 and 2023.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a Christian charity volunteer, was last month awarded £13,000 and an apology from police after being arrested for praying silently outside an abortion clinic
Ms Vaughan-Spruce was first arrested in November 2022 for praying in a ‘buffer zone’ outside the BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham.
Just weeks after she was found not guilty by Birmingham Magistrates Court, she was arrested a second time for silently praying outside the same clinic in February 2023.
Officers from West Midlands Police told her at the time that ‘engaging in prayer’ was ‘the offence’ after she insisted she was ‘not protesting’.
But police later said there would be ‘no further investigation’ into the incident and apologised to her.
