Anti-abortion protestors could be banned near Dorset clinic
More than 3,000 people have signed a petition for a 150m buffer zone around the clinic in Bournemouth
Anti-abortion protestors could be banned from coming close to a clinic in Dorset if campaigners are successful.
More than 3,000 people have signed a petition for a 150m buffer zone around the Charminster clinic in Bournemouth.
Campaigners say currently both patients and staff alike are harassed as they walk in as protestors sling names and abuse.
Jess Bone is one of the campaigners.
She said:
"It's pretty much daily and it's the same kind of group. They will stand outside usually opposite but often directly outside the premises as well and because it's on a cul-de-sac you have to pass them.
"They've called patients and staff murderers, they will hold up signs, they will cross themselves and pray for you as you pass. We've had stories of them harassing bin men, harassing local residents.
"Shame, guilt, judgement, intimidation, distress. These are all the kind of words that come up repeatedly in the testimonies of women who have seen these groups, interacted with these groups and it makes an already difficult scenario even more distressing and traumatic."
The petition was launched in may but has gained massive traction online in the fallout of political moves in America to remove women's right to an abortion over there.
The group 'Sister Supporter Bournemouth' only needed 2,000 signatures to be referred to a full council meeting on the 12th of July for debate.
Jess says she's hoping a 150m buffer zone can be created around the clinic that will allow women to attend with dignity, but also preserve the public right to protest.
She said:
"It just creates this area where women can enter and be free from that sense of intimidation, they can access abortion healthcare with privacy and dignity. Those groups can still do what they want to do outside that perimeter.
"So it's a good compromise between balancing the right to protest with those groups, and balancing the needs of the women who have a right to access legal healthcare."