Last year, we celebrated Parliament’s decision to introduce safe access zones to ensure women could access reproductive healthcare and abortion clinic staff could do their jobs without facing harassment from anti-choice protesters. This change is now under threat, with new draft guidance from the government seeking to overturn this decision and introduce exemptions.
As our clinic reports an escalation in anti-choice protesters, emboldened by the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs Wade, we cannot let the government gut these important new protections. There is no democratic basis for this. In fact, when similar changes were proposed before Parliament by DUP and Tory MPs, they were decisively voted down.
The safe access zones consultation is open until the 22nd of January. Please add your response to it as soon as possible and encourage others you know that care about this issue to do the same. Let’s work to put an end to the harassment of staff and service users at abortion clinics once and for all. The British Pregnancy Advisory Network has created a helpful explainer on how to respond.
