Buffer zones outlawing pro-life activity imposed on Northern Ireland, two arrests so far

11 October 2023

Buffer zones, referred as “safe access zones”, were imposed on Northern Ireland last week. There have already been two arrests under the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act (Northern Ireland) 2023.

Last Friday, 29 September, buffer zones were introduced around abortion facilities in Northern Ireland, essentially outlawing all pro-life activity, now deemed “harassment” by the law.

On Tuesday, a man and a woman were arrested for breaching one such zone outside Causeway Hospital in County Londonderry.

SPUC’s Policy & Legal Officer, Liam Gibson, based in Northern Ireland, slammed the “safe access zone” as being “a direct attack on civil rights guaranteed in both domestic UK law and international human rights law.

“Criminalising peaceful citizens, not because of anti-social behaviour but for wanting to exercise the right to express their religious and political views represents a serious threat to the civil rights of everyone in our society.”

England has also seen several arrests of pro-life individuals charged with breaching a buffer zone, most notably Isabel Vaughan-Spruce who was arrested twice for praying silently outside an abortion facility in Birmingham.

British army veteran Adam Smith-Connor will also go on trial in November after he prayed for his dead son outside a BPAS facility in Bournemouth.

SPUC has produced a free Buffer Zones Fact Sheet that provides an overview of the legal situation regarding the ban on pro-life activities near abortion facilities.

SPUC comment

A SPUC spokesperson said: “The imposition of buffer zones in Northern Ireland is part of a broader campaign of intimidation seeking to persecute and vilify pro-lifers in the UK. The term ‘safe access zone’ is designed to create the impression that pro-life vigils present a danger to women. This is entirely false.

“There is no evidence of harassment or intimidation at pro-life demonstrations. The introduction of buffer zones needs to be understood, instead, in the context of growing intolerance of any opposition to abortion.”

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Buffer zones outlawing pro-life activity imposed on Northern Ireland, two arrests so far

11 October 2023

Buffer zones, referred as “safe access zones”, were imposed on Northern Ireland last week.

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