Abortion climbdown

The government has admitted that abortion clinic buffer zones are incompatible with human rights laws – less than a week after an amendment to the Public Order Bill was approved that would introduce buffer zones.

The new Clause 9 – which establishes buffer zones (‘designated areas’) around abortion clinics where it would be an offence to interfere with people accessing or providing abortion services – will likely now have to be redrafted in terms that are compatible with human rights law.

Catherine Robinson of Right to Life UK said Clause 9 should be ‘thrown out’ and not redrafted. She added: ‘Censorship zones are direct viewpoint discrimination which deny women in need an alternative to abortion. As has been pointed out many times, there are laws in place to prevent harassment and intimidation and these should be enforced if and when necessary.’