Abortion Clinic Buffer Zones

EDM number 1244 in 2017-19, proposed by Caroline Lucas on 08/05/2018.
Categorised under the topics of Health services and Medical ethics.

That this House notes with concern the persistent harassment, intimidation and targeting of people accessing and providing healthcare services at abortion clinics and pregnancy advisory bureaux; further notes repeated instances of women and staff being approached, recorded without their consent, followed and given false information about medical procedures; endorses the then Home Secretary's statement of 17 January 2018 that it is completely unacceptable for women to face harassment or intimidation for exercising their legal right to healthcare advice and treatment; welcomes the decision of Ealing Council to implement a buffer zone around a clinic on Mattock Lane that has been subject to long­standing, intimidatory and invasive activity and the work of other local authorities to find solutions to clinic protests in their areas; recognises that this harassment and intimidation is not limited to one borough but has taken place at 42 clinics across the UK in the last year alone; supports the British Pregnancy Advisory Service's Back Off campaign to introduce buffer zones outside reproductive health clinics as a means of ensuring that women are not harassed or obstructed from accessing confidential advice and treatment; looks forward to the conclusion of the Home Office's ongoing review into abortion clinic protests and the impact they have on women in England and Wales; and calls on the Government to bring forward legislation to protect the right of women to access lawful healthcare by introducing and implementing buffer zones around abortion clinics and pregnancy advisory bureaux.

This motion has been signed by a total of 60 MPs.