by Melanie McDonagh, Spectator
How do you breach an abortion buffer zone protection order? Why, by being within 150 metres of any part of a building where abortions are carried out. You’re not allowed to cause harassment, alarm or distress to anyone going to them, nor obstruct them from the site. Neither are you allowed to ‘influence’ anyone having or providing an abortion.
And there’s the thing. When Livia Tossici-Bolt stood near a clinic in Bournemouth in March 2023 with a placard saying, ‘Here to talk, if you want’, the clinic and council complained on the basis that the placard and the woman were in breach of the order and a judge, Orla Austin, said Tossici-Bolt ‘lacks insight that her presence could have a detrimental effect on the women attending the clinic, their associates, staff and members of the public.’
Tossici-Bolt says that she wasn’t trying to persuade or harass anyone: she was simply there to talk, and what’s wrong with communicating? ‘Peaceful expression is a fundamental right – no one should be criminalised for harmless offers to converse,’ she said.
Well indeed, and I would be surprised myself if she had simply wanted to pass the time of day with passers-by. If I could put myself in her place I’d have been there to offer women a chance to talk about their decision to have an abortion and to ‘influence’ them not to have it. I would also have wanted to offer them alternatives if they needed it in the way of financial, moral or material support – there are organisations out there that can provide it. That’s because abortion is not like any other form of healthcare because no other form of healthcare entails the destruction of another human life at some stage of pre-natal development. And that, I say, is why the weaselly phrase ‘reproductive healthcare’ is so dishonest, because it’s not about reproduction at all; it’s about ensuring that reproduction doesn’t happen by doing away with the foetus.