The state of Western Australia has implemented buffer zones around its abortion facilities, meaning that every state in the country has now banned pro-lifers from helping women outside clinics. Michael Robinson, SPUC Director of Communications, said: “This is a dark day for the women of Australia, robbed of loving care and alternatives to abortion. All that this ban does is protect the interests of the abortion industry.”
Western Australia’s “Safe Access Zones” Bill has outlawed “prohibited behaviour” within 150 meters of “premises at which abortions are provided” in the state.
“Prohibited behaviour” is defined broadly, including communication “by any means” with women “in relation to abortion in a manner that is able to be seen or heard by a person accessing, attempting to access or leaving premises at which abortions are provided and reasonably likely to cause distress or anxiety”.
Providing help and counselling to women outside clinics is therefore essentially banned, as are all other forms of pro-life activity and witness, punishable by one year in prison and a $12,000 fine.
The Bill was passed on 11 August, bringing Western Australia in line with the rest of the country.
Nick Goiran, one of only three members of the Western Australian Legislative Council to oppose the ban, voiced his support for pro-lifers who only want “to provide compassionate, peaceful support to any woman who is having an unexpected pregnancy… people who are there out of genuine concern and compassion, they should be supported too.”
Jamal Hakim, managing director for Marie Stopes Australia, supported the bill, adding that the abortion provider now wants “to work with the government to increase access to abortion care in Western Australia”.
Outlawing love
SPUC’s Mr. Robinson said: “Far from protecting women, buffer zones rob them of any alternative to abortion.
“There has been a concerted effort in Australia and elsewhere, including in the UK, to vilify pro-lifers outside clinics in order to introduce anti-women, anti-love exclusion zones – as we have also seen in places like Ealing, which recently extended a buffer zone for another three years, as reported by SPUC.
“Rupa Huq, Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, has also sought to extend buffer zones across the whole of the UK, which SPUC has opposed.
“As Andrew Boff, a Conservative member of the London Assembly has pointed out, buffer zones ban love.
“Pro-life vigils and interventions, he highlights, come ‘from a position of love, of love for human life… What these protesters are doing is showing that there is an alternative’, Boff has said. ‘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."