Calls for ban on protests outside South Yorkshire abortion clinics
A London council's discussing a so-called 'buffer-zone' today
There are calls for more protection for South Yorkshire women who feel intimidated by protesters outside abortion clinics.
The company who runs one in Doncaster's told Hallam women there are becoming increasingly distressed by pro-life campaigners outside.
A London Council will decide today whether to ban protests outside an abortion facility - by bringing in the UK's first so-called 'buffer zone'.
Katherine O'Brien's from BPAS - who run a clinic in Doncaster - she says protest activity's having a real impact on women there:
"Protesters are resorting to increasingly aggressive tactics, such as carrying large aggressive banners, directly approaching women. Unless we see efforts from local councils and the government, these protests are just going to continue getting worse.
"I think that those people who personally might be anti-abortion they can understand this protest activity is not appropriate. It is not treating women with any kind of respect or dignity so even those people who might personally be opposed to abortion do actually support buffer zones."
Ealing Council in London's discussing whether to bring in a Public Spaces Protection Order around an abortion clinic - which would ban protests around the building.
There are calls for that sort of restriction to be brought in across the country - Katherine says it's the right move:
"They don’t stop women having an abortion but what they do do is make a difficult day that much more difficult. And to have these groups of strangers standing there, potentially judging them, following them down the street, following them to their cars, this can be incredibly distressing for women.
"No one has the right to say whatever they want, to whoever they want, wherever they want. If these groups want to take their arguments to people who set our abortion laws that’s absolutely right, take your protest to parliament but do not target individual women accessing a legal health care service."
We've contacted the group who hold 'vigils' outside the clinic in Doncaster for comment but they haven't got back to us.