The new law states that it is illegal for anyone to do anything that intentionally or recklessly influences someone’s decision to use abortion services, obstructs them, or causes harassment or distress to a clinic’s patient or employee. Anyone convicted faces a maximum penalty of an unlimited fine.
Jess Phillips, the Home Office’s safeguarding minister, said: “The right to access abortion services is a fundamental right for women in this country, and no one should feel unsafe when they seek to access this.
“We will not sit back and tolerate harassment, abuse and intimidation as people exercise their legal right to health care, which is why we have fast-tracked this measure to get it up and running without further delay.
“For too long, abortion clinics have been without these vital protections, and this government is determined to do all we can do to make this country a safer place for women.”
Silent prayer has been at the centre of a series of court cases where Christian campaigners have successfully argued that their arrest for doing so was unjust and a breach of their human rights.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, of ADF International, a faith-based legal advocacy group that has supported the cases, said the buffer zone laws were “disproportionate and ill-defined”.
He said: “Already, three individuals have been prosecuted within the last two years for nothing more than praying silently in their minds near an abortion clinic. We all stand strongly against harassment, but the ban on ‘influencing’ mandated by the government is open to abuse.”
“Unless there is clarity that there is a protected human right to freedom of thought, and to engage in consensual conversation, innocent people could be wrongly criminalised.”
The College of Policing and Crown Prosecution Service are drawing up guidance for officers who will have to decide whether they can “reasonably suspect” any behaviour meets the bar of intentionally influencing, obstructing or harassing a person attending a clinic.
Stella Creasy, a Labour MP who has campaigned for the ban, said: “With yet another round of protests designed to target women accessing abortion clinics planned for the coming weeks, it’s vital that the protection parliament designed to let them do so in peace is now implemented.
“This legislation – including the decision to prevent those who feel they need to pray in front of clinics – was passed over 18 months ago. It’s vital that it commences without any further delay to protect the right to privacy of those making a choice about their own health care from those who believe it’s their right to stand in the way of them doing so.”
The relevant zones also need to be on or next to a public highway or road, in an open space to which the public has access, or within the area of land attached to an abortion clinic, or in a location that is visible from any of those areas.
The measure applies to any clinics and private hospitals that are approved under the Abortion Act 1967, and for any NHS hospital that has carried out abortions in the past year.
Safe access zones were introduced through the Public Order Act 2023, following a free vote in Parliament that received cross-party support.
