Irish Wedding News
28/11/2014
The request comes after the organisation claimed there has been an "escalation in anti-abortion activity" outside a number of centres.
The 'Back Off' campaign calls for the establishment of zones to be created, which would be free from anti-abortion activists in the area directly around registered clinics and pregnancy advice bureaux.
Some women attending the centres are said to have been exposed to groups of anti-abortion activists who stand immediately outside the centres. Quite often, they will have large banners which display graphic images, distribute leaflets and even follow women when they enter or leave the clinic. The BPAS has said this behaviour has left women feeling intimidated and distressed.
Earlier this month, an anti-abortionist in Belfast, Bernadette Smyth, was found guilty of harassing a director of a Marie Stopes clinic in the city centre. The judge presiding over the case ruled that it was inappropriate "for anyone to be stopped outside this clinic in any form, shape or fashion and questioned either to their identity, why they are going in there and being forced to involve themselves in conversation at times when they are almost certainly going to be stressed and very possibly distressed."
The BPAS has now called for legislation to be created to create a safe space for women around the clinics.
Ann Furedi, Chief Executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: "One in three women will have an abortion. These activists don't stop women needing abortions, they simply make what is already a difficult day that much harder.
"Women should feel confident that they can approach centres for pregnancy advice and abortion care without fear of intimidation, or anxious that their identity will be compromised by protesters filming outside. Establishing zones free from anti-abortion activists around clinics would provide the reassurance and security women need.
"We cherish freedom of speech and regularly engage with those opposed to what we do. We have no desire to close debate down – but women arriving at clinics aren't coming for a debate. They are coming to access a confidential medical service, and should be left alone.
"We are a firmly pro-choice country, but for the small number of people who wish to campaign to restrict women's reproductive choices, there are plenty of opportunities and locations in which to do so. There are politicians willing to fight their cause in parliament. There is absolutely no need for the space outside clinics to become a battleground."
(JP)
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Calls For 'Buffer Zones' At Abortion Clinics
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has called on the government to introduce new laws to protect women attending abortion clinics.The request comes after the organisation claimed there has been an "escalation in anti-abortion activity" outside a number of centres.
The 'Back Off' campaign calls for the establishment of zones to be created, which would be free from anti-abortion activists in the area directly around registered clinics and pregnancy advice bureaux.
Some women attending the centres are said to have been exposed to groups of anti-abortion activists who stand immediately outside the centres. Quite often, they will have large banners which display graphic images, distribute leaflets and even follow women when they enter or leave the clinic. The BPAS has said this behaviour has left women feeling intimidated and distressed.
Earlier this month, an anti-abortionist in Belfast, Bernadette Smyth, was found guilty of harassing a director of a Marie Stopes clinic in the city centre. The judge presiding over the case ruled that it was inappropriate "for anyone to be stopped outside this clinic in any form, shape or fashion and questioned either to their identity, why they are going in there and being forced to involve themselves in conversation at times when they are almost certainly going to be stressed and very possibly distressed."
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The BPAS has now called for legislation to be created to create a safe space for women around the clinics.
Ann Furedi, Chief Executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: "One in three women will have an abortion. These activists don't stop women needing abortions, they simply make what is already a difficult day that much harder.
"Women should feel confident that they can approach centres for pregnancy advice and abortion care without fear of intimidation, or anxious that their identity will be compromised by protesters filming outside. Establishing zones free from anti-abortion activists around clinics would provide the reassurance and security women need.
"We cherish freedom of speech and regularly engage with those opposed to what we do. We have no desire to close debate down – but women arriving at clinics aren't coming for a debate. They are coming to access a confidential medical service, and should be left alone.
"We are a firmly pro-choice country, but for the small number of people who wish to campaign to restrict women's reproductive choices, there are plenty of opportunities and locations in which to do so. There are politicians willing to fight their cause in parliament. There is absolutely no need for the space outside clinics to become a battleground."
(JP)
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