'Buffer zone legislation discriminates against people of faith'

Image: mazur/cbcew.org.uk

Source: CBCEW, SPUC

Today, 18 September, the UK Government announced that legislation to enact 'safe access zones' or 'buffer zones' outside abortion facilities in England and Wales will come into force from 31st October.

This legislation, contained in section nine of the Public Order Act 2023, criminalises a range of activities within a 150-metre perimeter of an abortion facility. Such activities potentially include prayer, thought, peaceful presence, consensual communication and offers of practical support to women in vulnerable situations, should any of these be deemed to influence or interfere with access to the clinic.

A similar ban was introduced in Northern Ireland last year and another will come into force in Scotland on 24 September.

Bishop John Sherrington, Lead Bishop for Life Issues for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said in a statement: "As the Catholic Bishops' Conference repeatedly stated during the passage of the Public Order Bill last year, 'safe access zone' legislation is unnecessary and disproportionate. We condemn all harassment and intimidation of women and hold that, as was accepted in a Home Office Review, there are already laws and mechanisms in place to protect women from such behaviour.

"In practice, and despite any other intention, this legislation constitutes discrimination and disproportionately affects people of faith. Religious freedom is the foundational freedom of any free and democratic society, essential for the flourishing and realisation of dignity of every human person. Religious freedom includes the right to manifest one's private beliefs in public through witness, prayer and charitable outreach, including outside abortion facilities.

"As well as being unnecessary and disproportionate, we have deep concerns around the practical effectiveness of this legislation, particularly given the lack of clarity in relation to the practice of private prayer and offers of help within 'safe access zones'.

"As Pope Francis has reminded us, 'a healthy pluralism, one which genuinely respects differences and values them as such, does not entail privatising religions in an attempt to reduce them to the quiet obscurity of the individual's conscience or to relegate them to the enclosed precincts of churches, synagogues or mosques.'

This would represent, in effect, a new form of discrimination and authoritarianism". By legislating for and implementing so-called 'safe access zones', the UK Government has taken an unnecessary and disproportionate step backwards in the protection of religious and civic freedoms in England and Wales."

Alithea Williams, Public Policy Manager The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) said: "This is a dark day for democracy in this country. From 31st October, it will be a crime to pray against abortion, to offer women help, and, ludicrously, to attempt to "influence" someone on abortion within 150m of facilities that carry out abortions.

"Worryingly, this announcement has been made before the guidance has been published. While the guidance produced by the last Government was a reasonably liberal interpretation of the law, the rhetoric from Jess Phillips is not encouraging.

"The shameless pro-abortion lobby continues to lie about the nature and practice of pro-life vigils, where selfless individuals offer help, moral support and real choice to women in crisis pregnancies.

"There is no "fundamental right" to abortion, whatever Ms Phillips might say, and there is nothing "pro-choice" about denying help to pregnant women.

"Various studies, including a Home Office report, have found no evidence of harassment of women outside abortion facilities. Rather, it is pro-life men and women who have been harassed and threatened with fines or prison time in recent months.

"If illiberal and censorious buffer zones are enforced, Britain's tradition of democracy and liberty will be forever compromised in order to satisfy the whim of a vocal minority of extremists determined to have more abortion and less free speech."