Image: Alliance Defending Freedom UK
Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64, has been found guilty and fined £20,000 for breaching a buffer zone in Bournemouth in March 2023. Her case had been championed by the US State Department, which warned that the persecution of pro-life men and women in the UK threatens a potential UK-US trade deal.
Ms Tossici-Bolt was put on trial for standing near an abortion facility in Bournemouth with a sign that read, “Here to talk, if you want to”, allegedly in breach of a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), also known as a buffer zone.
SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), slammed the verdict on X:
SPUC reported earlier this week that the US State Department was “monitoring” her case, which, the Trump administration warned, threatened a potential trade deal with the UK just before a ten per cent tariff was imposed on it by the US.
The US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), which is part of the State Department and had met with Ms Tossici-Bolt, stated that “US-UK relations share a mutual respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
“However, as Vice-President Vance has said, we are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom. It is important that the UK respect and protect freedom of expression.”
Speaking earlier this year at the Munich Security Conference, JD Vance raised the issue of pro-life free speech, citing the case of Adam Smith-Connor who, like Ms Tossici-Bolt, was found guilty of praying silently near the same Bournemouth abortion facility.
Vance said: “I wish I could say that this was a fluke, a one-off, crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person. But no… The backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular, in the crosshairs.”
Following today’s verdict, which saw Ms Tossici-Bolt given a two-year conditional discharge, presiding District Judge Orla Austin said: “I accept her beliefs were truly held beliefs. Although it’s accepted this defendant held pro-life views… this case is not about the rights and wrongs about abortion but about whether the defendant was in breach of the PSPO.”
However, Ms Tossici-Bolt’s defence said that the local council had produced no evidence that she was “either observed by any service user or any other forms of harm were caused by her behaviour”.
Commenting on the case herself, Ms Tossici-Bolt said: “Great Britain is supposed to be a free country, yet 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.”
Ellen Fantini of the European Conservative Magazine stated on X:
Meanwhile, Heidi Stewart, the CEO of abortion provider BPAS, said she “welcomes today’s verdict”.
It is unknown what the US’s reaction will be to the guilty verdict and sentencing.
Buffer zones of 150m were imposed around abortion facilities across England and Wales last year. Similar zones are active in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
If you’re reading this and haven’t yet donated to SPUC, please consider helping now. Thank You!
