Nine councils in England are setting up abortion clinic buffer zones to protect women from anti-abortion protesters after a rise of intimidating behaviour by religious groups including name calling, confronted with oversized distressing pictures of aborted foetuses and filming women entering and leaving the clinics and streaming live on Facebook.
Ealing council in west London has became the first local authority to apply a public spaces protection order (PSPO) for 100 yards around the Marie Stopes clinic to protect women from distress and intimidation.
Council spokesman described the spread of anti-abortion tactics as deeply worrying and said that in recent years protests have become more regular, wider spread and more intimidating with groups of people approaching women and trying to talk to them about their personal medical decisions.
Nottingham council have sought an injunction against 40 Days for Life, a Christian movement, after they held vigils outside the abortion clinic at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and but explained that they are only there to pray and offer help or alternatives to abortion.
Abortion is a life changing decision and far too important for other people to decide, whether they be religious fanatics with a placard or well meaning pro-life campaigners.
It should only be the decision of the people directly involved with the help of professional advice and then be left to make their own decisions and deal with the consequences if necessary but mostly it is far too important a decision to have someone else try to intimidate a woman into what they can and can't do with their own bodies because of their own beliefs.
8 comments:
Nothing to do with freedom of speech, it's intimidation and forcing your beliefs on other people.
Again, nothing to do with free speech, its intimidation and if it was an abortion clinic or a church or a law court it shouldnt happen and people shouldn't be forcibly inflicting their views on others.
Third time lucky then, it's about intimidation being wrong if it's left, right or as in this case religious folk doing it. Nothing to do with free speech or political leaning.
If the word intimidate offends you I could always replace it with bully, coerce, bait, badger, hound, browbeat, ruffle, strong-arm, lean on or arm-twist.
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