Protesters banned from Queensland abortion clinics from today
By Felicity Caldwell
3 December 2018
Queensland women seeking a pregnancy termination will be shielded from protesters from Monday, as abortion law reform comes into effect.
From Monday, abortion will no longer be a crime and women will be able to have a termination on request up to 22 weeks, or after that gestation with consent from two doctors.
Women tell us why abortion clinics need buffer zones
Rebecca Reid
Friday 14 Sep 2018
The first time I went to an abortion clinic, I was in my teens accompanying a friend having a termination.
We talked a lot about what was going to happen. We questioned what you were supposed to wear to go and get abortion pills. We looked up the route from the tube station to the clinic on Google maps.
Continued: https://metro.co.uk/2018/09/14/women-tell-us-why-abortion-clinics-need-buffer-zones-7943627/
Explainer: what are abortion clinic safe-access zones and where do they exist in Australia?
June 14, 2018
Tania Penovic
New South Wales recently became the fifth Australian jurisdiction to enact legislation that establishes safe-access zones around abortion clinics.
The legislation is a response to picketing of clinics by anti-abortion protesters for more than two decades. These protesters characterise themselves as “sidewalk counsellors” but their conduct has included verbal abuse, threats, impeding entry to clinics, displaying violent imagery and acts of “disturbing theatre” such as pushing a blood-splattered doll in a pram.
Safe-access zones are sometimes called bubble zones because they create a bubble around an abortion clinic in which certain conduct is prohibited. NSW will now impose safe-access zones of 150 metres around clinics that provide abortions.
New laws needed to protect abortion clinic workers
Michelle Thompson
February 12 2018
Imagine going to work and being told by strangers you are going to hell. You have to push past people who tell you what you do is wrong, that you should be ashamed and that you’re doing the devil’s work. Your vehicle is regularly splashed by "holy water" that mysteriously blisters the paint on your car, and you have graphic images shoved in your face as you enter your workplace.
This is the reality for many Australian healthcare workers each day who provide abortion care to thousands of patients.
Continued: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/laws-to-protect-abortion-clinic-workers-20180212-p4z00u.html
How UK anti-abortion activists use American tactics to shock and shame women
Phoebe Braithwaite
19 December 2017
50 years after the 1967 Abortion Act, the anti-abortion movement is consolidating – with transatlantic support.
Anti-abortion activists gathered outside the UK Houses of Parliament on 27 October to protest 50 years since the passing into law of the UK’s 1967 Abortion Act. Nina Naidu* was working nearby, and went to take a closer look.
Like many women in the UK, she had previous, personal experience with both abortion and virulent anti-choice demonstrators. Earlier this year, the 24-year-old decided to terminate a pregnancy, and was accosted by protestors on the way to her appointment.
Continued at source: https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/phoebe-braithwaite/uk-anti-abortion-american-tactics-shock-shame
MPs call for buffer zones around abortion clinics after women are told they will 'die of cancer' by protesters
Verity Ryan
12 December 2017
Buffer zones must be introduced around abortion clinics, MPs have said, after hearing evidence of sinister intimidation of staff and women by pro-life protestors.
Staff have been followed to their cars and called "murderers" while women having abortions have been told they will "die of cancer", a parliamentary committee was told.
Continued at source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/12/mps-call-buffer-zones-around-abortion-clinics-women-told-will/
Anti-abortion protesters 'target MP offices with graphic images'
8 November 2017
MPs who support pro-choice say anti-abortion protesters have draped graphic images of dismembered foetuses outside their offices.
Labour MP Paula Sherriff described the behaviour of some anti-abortion groups as "reprehensible".
MPs told of the abuse during a parliamentary debate on protests around family planning clinics on Tuesday.
Continued at source: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-41911974
'Pretty tense': What it's like to run the gauntlet of anti-abortion protesters
June 6 2017
Amelia Paxman
When Bridget Dominic booked an appointment at a Sydney clinic in November 2015, she didn't expect to have to contend with a cluster of anti-abortion protesters standing outside.
Bridget wasn't having an abortion – she was getting an IUD inserted at the clinic, which specialises in terminations but offers a range of other gynaecological services.
Continued at source: Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/news-and-views/news-features/pretty-tense-what-its-like-to-run-the-gauntlet-of-antiabortion-protesters-20170605-gwkqbr.html
Yasir Naqvi to propose safe zones around Ontario abortion clinics
Similar laws already in place in B.C., N.L., Quebec
CBC News Posted: May 29, 2017
Ontario Attorney General and Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi plans to propose a bill this fall that would create safe zones around abortion clinics in the province, citing reports of harassment by a small group of protesters outside a clinic in his riding.
Naqvi made the announcement Monday morning alongside Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and Coun. Catherine McKenney, saying laws like this are more important than ever in an increasingly polarized society.
Continued: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-province-protect-abortion-clincs-1.4135673
Ontario Attorney-General considering options to prevent harassment outside abortion clinics
Michelle Zilio
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney-General is looking at how it can stop harassment outside the province’s abortion clinics after a call from Ottawa’s mayor to consider a law that would ban protesters from demonstrating on the doorsteps of facilities that provide abortion services.
Mayor Jim Watson called on the government to review the possibility of legislation that would protect women from harassment by protesters outside abortion clinics, including one steps from Parliament Hill. Patients and staff at Ottawa’s Morgentaler abortion clinic have reported repeated pestering from anti-abortion protesters carrying graphic placards on the sidewalk outside 65 Bank St.
Continued at source: Globe & Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ontario-attorney-general-considering-options-to-prevent-harassment-outside-abortion-clinics/article35109959/
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