When does a peaceful, lawful protest cross the line and become harassment? When it is dressed up as freedom of speech, and appears armed with obscene photoshopped pictures, leaflets touting dubious medical research and CCTV cameras. When it intimidates, harasses and frightens the life out of women accessing a legal health service, and the staff who work to support them - that's when.
I have a lot of respect for people who say to me, ‘I don't agree with abortion. I have strong religious beliefs and I think it is wrong for any woman to do that’. Whilst I do not share their beliefs or their view, I respect their right to hold it. I respect them because they don't try to dress abortion up as illegal, or unsafe, or morally wrong, or hurtful to women, or even as a cause of breast cancer or mental health issues. I respect them because they point to their faith as the foundation for their view. But they should not expect everyone, including women accessing health services, to share that view.
I am pro-choice because every woman should be a decision maker. I respect their right as moral, autonomous individuals to do what is right for them - not because I agree with their decision necessarily, but because I recognise that women seek abortions for all sorts of reasons that are complex and varied. What I do in Northern Ireland is support women in their choices, whatever they may be, and I am constantly amazed by the courage and bravery of the women who use our services. Women who run the gauntlet of abuse and public shaming in the middle of a busy Belfast street to get the help and support they need. These are the women whose stories make me cry, but whose resilience makes me strong.
Take Gemma (not her real name) who came to our centre one afternoon. She had been stopped on the way in by the protesters at the door, who asked her if she was going to Marie Stopes. Gemma thought they were staff, and so said yes. They asked for her name and she told them. They started to call her Gemma, and told her they had some information on abortion for her and could help her. Gemma listened to the woman, wondering why she was talking to her on the street and not inside the centre. When Gemma realised the people were protesters and tried to enter go inside, they shouted at her – ‘Gemma, don't kill your baby!’ and ‘we will be waiting for you when you come out!’. She was distraught when she came through our door, and it took a while for her to stop shaking. I got her a cup of tea and sat with her.
Gemma wanted the morning after pill. She had been raped by her husband three days previously and today was the first that she could get out of the house. Although she was wearing heavy make up to hide the bruises, the swelling around her mouth, nose and eyes was apparent. She showed me the strangulation marks on her neck and the bite marks on her arms and breasts. She kept saying ‘I can't have a baby with this monster. He will kill me. He wants me pregnant because he wants to kill me.’ Gemma told me that when she refused to go to her doctor to have her contraceptive implant removed, her husband warned her that he would do it himself. He removed her implant with a Stanley knife while sitting on her chest. He told her to tape the wound with sellotape and stop her whining.
Gemma got her morning after pill. I gave her advice on where she could get help, phone numbers to call confidentially and places to go in an emergency. When she left she said: ‘those people outside don't know me. They don't know anything about me or my circumstances. They don't know why I am here. I don't know whether I am pregnant or not, but I can't take that chance because if I am, I have to kill this baby before he kills me.’
Like all the women I see, Gemma made the decision that was right for her, and we supported her. The people who protest outside our centre and other centres - using ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘right to protest’ as their guise - have no idea of the harm they cause. They do not hear the stories of the women who need abortions, and nor do they want to listen. The sentencing of Bernadette Smyth is a reminder that harassment is intolerable. All I ask is that those who disagree with a woman's right to choose at least respect their dignity, privacy and their right to access legal health services without fear or harassment.