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Press Release: Home Secretary Announces That Help For Women Outside Abortion Clinics Will Not Be Censored

Abortion clinic buffer zones

Right To Life have welcomed the Home Secretary’s decision not to introduce nationwide ‘buffer zones’ outside abortion clinics today.

Following a national review, Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, announced this morning that the implementation of national buffer zones would not be a proportionate response and that adequate legislation already exists to protect women from any protesters who are causing harm, not offering help.

Mothers who provide peaceful, practical help and support for women outside abortion centres have welcomed the Home Secretary’s decision as a victory for the women who have received this help from them in the past and for those who will now still be able receive it in the future.

A spokesperson for Right To Life, Clare McCarthy, said:

“The help these groups offer women outside abortion clinics is often indispensable and life-changing. Many of the women who have received help outside abortion clinics credit it with saving their child’s life.

The volunteers outside the abortion clinics offer holistic practical and emotional support that can really transform the situation these women find themselves in. They offer women financial help, counselling, help with accommodation and baby clothes – the type of support that is certainly not being offered inside the abortion clinics.

With this vital help, many women find the strength they need to go on to keep their baby. This morning’s announcement is a great victory for mothers who will both receive this help in the future and for those who will continue to be able to offer it.”

Fiona Bruce MP, a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group, also welcomed the decision and said:

“This is a win for both the mothers who have been and will be helped outside abortion clinics and for the volunteers who give up their free time to offer help to these women.

The evidence gathered in the review has found that predominantly, pro-life activities outside abortion clinics are peaceful. In some places this has been the case for over twenty years. The volunteers themselves are committed to praying for and, if requested, to providing non-judgemental, practical support for women in crisis. As the statement makes clear, adequate legislation already exists so that the police have the powers to act in the extremely rare event of a non-peaceful protest.

I welcome the decision of the Home Secretary Sajid Javid to stand up for the long-established freedoms of expression and association in this country, and am grateful to him for listening to Members of Parliament on this important issue.

We now hope to see local authorities follow suit in rejecting the imposition of ‘buffer zones’ at local level across the country”.

ENDS