Pro-life protesters at Court of Appeal to challenge ban outside abortion clinic

The Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Ealing was the first in the country to introduce a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) of 100 metres around it, supported by their local MP Rupa Huq.

Those standing outside abortion clinics were mostly from pro-life group the Good Counsel Network, who tried to help women change their minds and offer practical support when financial or domestic pressures were leading women towards termination.

Pro-choice groups began turning up in 2005, protesting against the pro-life group’s presence, the judge described the combination of the two groups by saying it ‘generated an atmosphere of tension outside the Centre’.

The buffer zone was challenged last year at the High Court, with the judge concluding that it was a “necessary step in a democratic society”.

Alina Dulgheriu and Andrea Orthova from the Good Counsel Network are now challenging that decision in the Court of Appeal infront of three senior judges. 

A group of mothers who say they were helped by vigil members outside abortion clinics rallied outside the Royal Courts of Justice while the hearing was taking place.

The public spaces protection order (PSPO) came into force in April after reports of “intimidation, harassment and distress” for women using the facility in Mattock Lane.

Clinical operations manager John Hansen-Brevetti said women had been told the ghost of their foetus…