A retired medical scientist will be tried for breaching a “buffer zone” after holding a sign offering to talk to women outside an abortion facility in Bournemouth.
Livia Tossici-Bolt, 62, refused to pay a fine after the local council alleged that she breached the public space protection order (PSPO) around a Bournemouth abortion facility when she held up the sign, “Here to talk if you want to.”
Tossici-Bolt, whose case is being supported by ADF UK, argues that the prosecution breaches her right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Several women, she also says, engaged her in consensual conversations.
“For several years now, I have been offering a helping hand to women who would like to consider other options for abortion, and pointing them to options where they can receive financial and practical support if that’s what they would like”, says Tossici-Bolt.
“There’s nothing wrong with offering help. There’s nothing wrong with two adults engaging in a consensual conversation on the street. I shouldn’t be treated like a criminal just for this.”
Adam Smith-Connor, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, also faces trial after praying for his dead son (lost to abortion) outside the same BPAS facility in Bournemouth, as reported by SPUC.
“I did not approach anyone, I did not speak to anyone, I did not breach any one’s privacy”, Smith-Connor said outside Poole Magistrates Court. “I simply stood silently. I am being tried for the prayerful thoughts I held in my head… for a thought crime.”
Buffer zones take away choice from women
SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), said: “Anti-choice buffer zones criminalise pro-life outreach that offers women a way out of abortion.
“What we have seen in recent years is the attempt to libel pro-life vigils outside abortion facilities and advance the false narrative that they harass women. But as a representative for Police Scotland said last week, such cases are very rare or do not exist at all.
“Similarly, a Home Office review also concluded in 2018 that ‘aggressive activities’ are ‘not the norm’ outside abortion facilities, and then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid stated that ‘buffer zones would not be a proportionate response’.
“Women have a right to hear what Tossici-Bolt and others have to say and offer, which might even save a life. Buffer zones rob women of that opportunity, not for the sake of safety but because of an ideology that wants abortion at all costs to the women involved.”
Click here to discover the top five myths about pro-life vigils.