A London Assembly politician made a heartfelt plea not to ban love during a BBC interview in which he opposed buffer zones around abortion clinics.

SPUC has welcomed the intervention by Andrew Boff, 62, a Conservative Member of the London Assembly, who appeared on BBC Politics London last Sunday to oppose a nationwide measure to criminalise pro-life activity within 150 metres of abortion clinics.

Mr Boff said that pro-lifers at vigils outside abortion clinics “are coming from a position of love, of love for human life… What these protesters are doing is showing that there is an alternative.”

Providing women with an “alternate way”

Mr Boff also said that the presence of pro-lifers in the immediate vicinity of abortion clinics was vital in order to let women who are making a “very serious decision” know “all the options” and “both sides of the argument before that decision is taken”.

“To ban people from showing an alternate way, when the worst possible outcome of their activity might be that a child lives that otherwise would not live, I think is outrageous, quite frankly”, he said.

Bill threatening to jail pro-lifers

Anti-life MP Rupa Huq recently introduced a Bill to “restrict demonstrations in the vicinity of abortion clinics; and for connected purposes”. Her Bill threatened to jail pro-lifers for six months for expressing any opinion on abortion within 150 metres of an abortion clinic. 

“Curtailment of freedom of speech”

Speaking on BBC Politics London, Clare McCullough of the Good Counsel Network said: “Everyone should be worried about this. It’s a huge curtailment of freedom of speech.”

Mrs McCullough said Rupa Huq’s Bill would mean that pro-lifers would not “be able to inform women about abortion at all, even if they come to you and want that information".

During the interview, Mrs McCullough phoned a woman who had been helped by the Good Counsel Network and now has a son. Viewers heard the woman saying: “So I read the leaflet and I started crying because from my heart I don’t want this pregnancy to be terminated. Because the reason was my financial difficulty and they assured me that whatever I am going to need for the baby they are going to provide me with everything.”

Rupa Huq’s Bill was blocked, but the threat is not gone.

“While this particular bill will not become law, there is still a very real danger that buffer zones will be introduced,” said SPUC’s Alithea Williams. “This bill, and the upcoming one from Sarah Olney MP on 30 October, are both means of raising the issue again and again, to try and get the Government to act.”

Save The Right to Save Lives

Sign the petition calling on the Home Secretary or the Scottish Justice Secretary to uphold the right of peaceful, law-abiding pro-life citizens to save the lives of unborn children and to offer help to pregnant women directly outside abortion clinics and to reject any measure to restrict this activity here.