Most parties at Stormont back the introduction of buffer zones around abortion facilities in Northern Ireland. SPUC has said that, if this “despicable Bill” is passed, it will “criminalise compassion”.

Yesterday, Northern Ireland’s Legislative Assembly voted 58 votes to 29 for a buffer zones bill, allowing it to progress to the next legislative stage.

The legislation, sponsored by Claire Bailey, leader of the Green Party, is backed by the majority of MLAs, including those belonging to Sinn Fein, Alliance, the SDLP and the Ulster Unionists.

If passed into law, the Bill will prohibit interventions and other peaceful pro-life activity within the vicinity of buildings that facilitate abortion.

The DUP and TUV oppose the legislation, which one DUP MLA has slammed as “regressive”, criminalising “anything from a conversation to a leaflet”.

“Serious threat” to civil rights

Liam Gibson, SPUC Policy & Legal Officer, has also condemned the Bill as “a serious threat to the civil rights of everyone, not just the pro-life movement”.

“Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are fundamental rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights”, Mr. Gibson continued. “According to the Convention they can only be restricted in a democratic society to the extent that is absolutely necessary.

“This Bill fails to meet that standard.

“It is very important that the people of Northern Ireland recognise the seriousness of the danger facing their basic rights. We will only have the right to express our opinion or to gather peacefully in public so long as we are prepared to defend them. And without those rights we can never hope to end the evil of abortion.

“I would urge everyone to write to their MLAs and insist that they oppose this Bill and the attack on fundamental freedoms that it represents.”

Misrepresentation of pro-life vigils

In recent times, the interventions and vigils of pro-lifers have increasingly been mischaracterised and libelled, including the “extraordinary misrepresentation” of an anti-abortion prayer vigil outside a London clinic in 2020, covered by SPUC.

Meanwhile, attacks on pro-lifers outside abortion facilities have largely gone unreported by the media; for example, when a peaceful pro-lifer was assaulted at a vigil in Belfast this summer. 

A similarly “sinister” attempt to introduce buffer zones and criminalise pro-lifers is also being attempted in the Republic of Ireland. As reported by SPUC, a €3,000 fine or a prison sentence for pro-lifers who gather outside abortion facilities to help women and the unborn have been proposed.

Buffer zones deny women choice

SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), said: “Contrary to the claims of Claire Bailey, the harassment of women and staff outside abortion facilities has been proven to be extraordinarily rare, which was the conclusion of an extensive Home Office review in 2018.

“‘Aggressive activities’ were ‘not the norm’, it concluded. Accordingly, Sajid Javid, Home Secretary at the time, wrote in response to the findings that ‘introducing national buffer zones would not be a proportionate response’, as SPUC also reported.

“The intimidation of women outside abortion facilities has been proven time and time again to be a lie, while the abuse that pro-lifers have suffered has not been subject to a review at all.

“The agenda is clear. Buffer zones are nothing but a dishonest and illiberal effort to deprive vulnerable women of an alternative to abortion.”