A woman has been prosecuted for holding a sign saying “here to talk, if you want to” outside a Bournemouth abortion clinic. She was not seeking to interfere with the rights of any woman entering the clinic, although I think it is fair to say that she was hoping to influence her into changing her mind. It cannot be right that a woman should be criminally prosecuted in such a case.
Livia Tossici-Bolt was found guilty of two public order offences for breaching a protected zone outside a British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) clinic on two consecutive days in March 2023.
The zone was established outside the clinic in 2022 given its status as one of the most harassed abortion centres in the country.
The offence is in section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023.
Offence of interference with access to or provision of abortion services
(1) It is an offence for a person who is within a safe access zone to do an act with the intent of, or reckless as to whether it has the effect of —
- influencing any person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services at an abortion clinic,
- obstructing or impeding any person accessing, providing, or facilitating the provision of abortion services at an abortion clinic, or
- causing harassment, alarm or distress to any person in connection with a decision to access, provide, or facilitate the provision of abortion services at an abortion clinic.
I am only interested in the first offence: that it is an offence for someone to do an act inside a buffer zone with the intent (or reckless – a legal term of art) to influence any person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services at an abortion clinic. (The other acts in (b) and (c) I accept should be criminal.)
It should be noted that when the buffer zones around abortion clinics were introduced it was on the basis that women were being harassed and intimidated before they entered. I don’t support these acts. But the idea that you cannot do any act with the intent of influencing a woman who is entering an abortion clinic is different.
Livia Tossici-Bolt stood outside Bournemouth abortion clinic on March 2nd and 3rd holding a sign saying “here to talk, if you want to”. That’s all she did.
Officer Rukan Taki, who is employed by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council to enforce the terms of the safe zone, spoke to her after a complaint was made by the clinic.
The Times sets out what was said at court here.
Tossici-Bolt said “I’ve been dragged through court merely for offering consensual conversation. Peaceful expression is a fundamental right — no one should be criminalised for harmless offers to converse.”
And “my case, involving only a mere invitation to speak, is but one example of the extreme and undeniable state of censorship in Great Britain today. It is important that the government actually does respect freedom of expression, as it claims to.”
Louise McCudden, head of external affairs at the pregnancy advice and abortion provider MSI Reproductive Choices [formerly named Marie Stopes International], said the charity was relieved “to see the law upheld”.
She said: “Before we had Safe Access Zones, women entering our clinics were harassed, spat at, called murderers and sinners, and given false medical information. We are grateful to local authorities like Bournemouth for listening to residents and introducing local protections.”
I don’t see how the prosecution of Tossici-Bolt’s action of holding a sign up could be proportionate to her Article 10 freedom of expression rights. I hope it is appealed. She has not committed any of the nasty acts such as harassing, spitting or calling women murderers or sinners.
In seeking to prevent harassment the state cannot over legislate – this is the idea it criminalises minor acts in order to prevent more serious ones. That is the very definition of a disproportionate interference in freedom of expression.
Holding up a sign saying “here to talk, if you want to” is clearly a form of expression. However I do not believe that Tossici-Bolt is being completely honest when she says it was only an invitation for consensual conversation. Clearly, if you hold up that sign and you are inviting conversation it is with the intent to influence the decision of a woman about to enter an abortion clinic. You want her to change her mind and keep the baby.
I don’t know why the pro-lifers are being so coy about this. There are two reasons you might stand outside an abortion clinic within the buffer zone of 150 metres. The first is the Christian idea of bearing witness – which deserves an article of its own. The second is surely to influence the woman to not undergo the planned abortion. At this stage, you are at last chance saloon.
Some women – maybe just one – who are entering an abortion clinic any one day might have some doubt about what they are about to do. Perhaps they are being coerced, perhaps they feel they have no alternative, they feel having an abortion is something they have to do, not what they want to do. And there is another woman who is holding a sign saying she is here to talk. That’s what she is doing with her day. She isn’t at work, or at the gym or at lunch or minding her children or parents.
This woman is outside the abortion clinic holding a sign hoping to influence another woman who is about to enter the clinic and end her pregnancy. Sign woman wants pregnant woman to change her mind by holding a sign up saying she is here to talk. We should be honest about that. In a civilised society this would not be criminalised. It is obviously a disproportionate interference with free speech.
Perhaps the pregnant woman who is about to enter the clinic decides not to. She goes over to the woman holding up the sign saying she is here to talk, if you want to. So the pregnant woman goes over and talks, because she wants to. Maybe the woman ends her pregnancy anyway but she knew someone cared enough to spend her whole day outside a clinic. Or maybe the pregnant woman decides she will continue with her pregnancy and contacts one of the charities such as Life that will give her practical help and advice with her pregnancy.
If this happens, this is bad for the abortion clinic. It is one abortion less for the day. It has lost a customer. One extra baby in the labour ward in nine months’ time, is one fewer infant remains to be disposed of that very day.
In short, a crazy lady standing outside their abortion clinic offering help is bad for business. And they can’t be doing with that.
Laura Perrins is a conservative commentator and former barrister. Subscribe to her Substack.
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Good grief, this idiot is going to end up taking us into a war by his stupidity.
Caution, Brain free zone.
He’s as dangerous and as mad as Bunter and Cameron isn’t he.
A whole lot worse.
Clarification? It seems clear enough to me. The man is an idiot. A further example of him meddling in issues he knows nothing about – though in this case he’s supposed to know something about it as it’s his ministerial responsibility.
War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength.
Nagorno-Karabakh is liberated.
Seriously, this man should be removed from representing this country. It is now beyond embarrassing and the potential for a serious diplomatic incident cannot be ruled out. One can only hope that his ignorance is now so obvious to all that those affected by his comments will make allowances for his lamentable grasp of geopolitics.
…
will make allowances for his lamentable grasp of geopolitics.“…will make allowances for his lamentable grasp of basic knowledge and common sense.”
With all due respect but we might as well be blunt and say it how it is.
…. or perhaps use the phrase which my long deceased father-in-law used to describe other drivers who annoyed him (in a broad Mancunian accent) – ‘Berking Twithead’!
We know why he was chosen and it certainly wasn’t for his intellect!
The ‘cleansing’ of Christians from their enclave in Muslim Azerbaijan was merely a continuation of the ‘cleansing’ of non-muslims, primarily Christians & Jews that has been going on for over a century.
You don’t have to go back very far to find that Christians made up about a 3rd of many middle Eastern countries. Even in countries such as Egypt Christians constituted about 25% of the population.
Population in the region throws up some interesting points. Who would have thought that in Israel & the Palestinian Territories there are about 7.2m Jews & 7.1m Arabs, & a further 0.5m Christians.
A mixing of terms there. I assume you mean that the 7.1m Arabs are all Muslims?
Jews and Christians are members of religious groups and not necessarily of a particular ethnicity. ‘Arab’ is a purely ethnic term – though there are many different ethnic sub-groups.
Jews are a race; there are very few who follow the religion of Judaism who are not also Jews but they are not the same thing. There are plenty of non-religious Jews.
I’d disagree with you on jews being a race its a religion however as you say not all jews are religious but the same could be said for every religion!
Are Eastern European Khazarians part of the Jewish ‘race’? They don’t look like they are descended from the Levant..
Was 100 percent Christian until Islam came along and forcibly converted or killed the Christians of the middle east. The crusades were a long overdue response to religious invaders.
Why is the Labour party so chock bang full of Gobs on Legs with no brain cell to share between them?
Lammy is an antisemitic racist. Who is responsible for putting him in arguably the most important position in Government? The man is a walking time bomb.
Rayner is a foul-mouthed thief.
Two-Tier is a money-grubbing disgrace to himself, let alone to the country. What kind of person, let alone a multi-millionaire, whines they wouldn’t be able to watch football without freebies? How come the future King and his son sit in the stands at Villa Park. Bring on the pictures of Arsenal v Villa.
If the world thought Biden embarrassing wait until they pick up on this lot!
I very confidently give Reeves 10 months, Two-Tier 2 Years before his party kick him out. They will have no choice, he is fast heading towards the most unpopular leader ever, even eclipsing a PM who sent British troops to die. It really is that serious.
“Two-Tier is a money-grubbing disgrace to himself, let alone to the
country. What kind of person, let alone a multi-millionaire, whines they
wouldn’t be able to watch football without freebies?”
Two Tier Starmer is so last week as is “Kier Starmer, Granny Harmer”.
His new name in the hood is: “Free Gear Starmer”.
Free Gear Two-Tier Kier
I’m also shocked at how completely clueless and dangerous these imbeciles are and the sooner they are removed the better for our country.
At least you know and expect this sort of thing from Labour. It’s those Janus faced, fakeTories that are worse than rats.
Lammy is just sticking to the woke script: Muslims did this to Christians. Hence, it must have been a good thing. Whatever it was.
Two Lammy pieces in fairly close succession is too much to bear. Do you remember the Spitting Image sketch in the 80s about Reagan? The President has lost his brain? Did our For Sec ever have one I wonder?
The man’s an utter cretin and a dangerous liability.
Its simple really, in order to lose something you have to have one to start with!
He doesn’t need to retract his statement or issue a clarification.
He needs to expletive deleted well resign, and pronto.
He is a national and international laughing stock, a man of peerless stupity even in 2tk’s cabinet of imbeciles.
Go for heavens sake GO!
Come on, 2TStarmer should sack him, but he won’t! To do so would be racist!
What this country desperately needs is a “fit for office” test.
Lammy would certainly fail almost any device to measure this.
It is now abundantly clear that Kneel was told who to give which job to whom on the basis that they are wholly unsuited to the roles they have been given.
Lammy – so utterly thick that he doesn’t know which order 7 an 8 belong in, wholly ignorant of British history and with a gob as big as the Mersey Tunnel such that a major diplomatic incident is a case of when not if.
Ranting Rayner – in charge of housing. She who stole off taxpayers via a housing deal. Streetwise but also utterly thick.
Robber Reeves – ex Bank of England (brewer up presumably
) as Treasurer. We couldn’t make this up.
On and on it goes – Miilibrain etc. Most of the current lot could outdo Abbacus Abbott in the absence of grey matter.
i think Azerbiyan is one of the places Blair advised on how to get western support.
Good. We should follow his advice and start with him.
Lame-brain Lammy’s future is on the speech making circuit – “how I started WWIII” plus his ever popular party piece, “Kings and Queens of England (in reverse order)”.
He looks a bit like a Sontaran warrior in this picture but the Sontarans are courageous and honourable so maybe not…
I think he looks more like Jabba the Hutt.
Well spotted
Similar moral sense too
Enough. This is the UK foreign secretary you’re talking about. One of the top cabinet positions. How on Earth would he have got the job if he wasn’t amazing at thinking?
Hilarious!
!
Here’s an idea for the next cabinet reshuffle….
Lammy for education secretary
Is Lammy being unbelievably stupid and ignorant or does he actually think it’s a good thing for Nagorno-Karabakh to be ethnically cleansed (and Armenia also at risk)? Could he really be this ignorant? If so, why on earth is he in the position he is?
You’d think the primary quality the Foreign Secretary should demonstrate is diplomacy.
Free Gear Keir has appointed a loudmouth bigot, who’s an embarrassment to the country.
Lammy Didn’t Earn It.
Lammy is a great example of why immigration is a really bad idea. He is thick as mince. His best role would be as burger flipper in McDonalds.
This government is riven with stupid, ignorant idiot communists. In fact, I reckon most of them are so thick, they don’t even understand communism.
The only useful role Lammy has is to make the rest of his colleagues feel superior!
I’m still struggling to believe this! You’ll know the feeling when your mind takes time to absorb information and you get waves of disbelief.
Before his appointment to this intellectually demanding position it was already known be was an idiot. Only an imbecile would put him into this role.
Lammy’s a national embarrassment on the world stage. Not in my name, doesn’t represent my views, looks like an imposter, an utter shambles of a man in a government of similar talent.
God help us all – what chance do we have with such low quality ‘politicians’ as this current lot! I have never felt so fearful for our future
Sadly our future was just as grim under the Tories
And has Welby come out in defence of Armenian Christians ??