Protests outside abortion clinics: tell the Home Office what you think

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

As some of you will know, Mumsnet has supported the BPAS Back Off campaign to end intimidating anti-abortion protests outside abortion clinics. We signed up following this discussion in which MNers told us they strongly support the campaign to have exclusion 'buffer zones' outside abortion clinics.

In response to this campaign, the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, has set up a consultation for members of the public to send in their views on whether the police need additional powers to combat protests outside clinics.

You can fill in the consultation survey here, and BPAS has produced a briefing for those who support the campaign and wish to fill in the consultation: you can see that here.

The consultation closes on February 19.

As ever, feel free to use this thread to let us know what you think.

Thanks
MNHQ

@LineyS

That survey is for organisations and their commissioned clients. Not sure why it's on MN without making that clear up front.

Hi LineyS

On this point, BPAS says: 'The Home Office announcement when they launched the consultation made clear they wanted feedback from anybody who has experience of protests - www.gov.uk/government/news/interested-parties-invited-to-provide-information-on-protests-outside-abortion-clinics. That’s not just clients but also local residents, passers-by etc.'

The link in the post by OJM1 goes to a simplified version, though, if anyone finds the full one a bit much (I did tbh!)

I answered the survey but I felt it wasn’t really right for me. Don’t know if my views would be helpful or not! At school a friend lived in the same road as an abortion clinic and there were regularly protestors hanging around outside. Horrible. That was more than 12 months ago though!

Thank you OJM1 I will take a look.

Please read the back off guide on how to fill it out ...

I don't have personal experience if this, just an opinion (that there should be buffer zones) so the survey didn't work for me at all. I started and quit because it clearly was aimed at professionals/people with first hand knowledge of protests. Quite a strange survey to put on Mumsnet tbh.

Chandlers have you read the above? It should be here! Many of us who have visited these clinics have experienced this ....

I don't really know what my stance is on abortion as it's not something that's 'touched' my life. I do believe people should be left in peace to make their own decisions and the idea that women are harassed outside clinics horrifies me.

Thanks for doing this Mumsnet. I'm involved in the campaign in Twickenham and it's been a real uphill battle with Richmond council. We finally got them to agree to look into it last week.

The home office want to hear everyone's experience, not just organisations. You don't have to answer all of the questions. The bpas website form is much more straightforward.

Nc for this.
Unfortunately I have had two abortions.
Once when I was 16 and my then lovely boyfriend forced me to have sex with him.
Second time a condom split, I took the morning after pill and it failed. I already had a 2 year old and it would have been too much for me.
Protesting outside these clinics must be harrowing if you are attending for a termination. Fortunately I didn't encounter this but I know it would have been upsetting. The decision to have a termination is not taken lightly and lives with me forever.

There are no Protests outside of strip clubs - which is a sin- so why outside of abortion clinics?

Because it’s all about controlling women.

This is so important. Yet more abuse and harassment of women. Since going through pregnancy, birth and early parenthood I am even more passionately pro choice. No woman should have to go through all of this if she doesn't want to. She doesn't need to justify abortion.

Those with experience of this harassment please complete the survey, you can bet that the organisations that support it will be getting their members to do so.

Since going through pregnancy, birth and early parenthood I am even more passionately pro choice. No woman should have to go through all of this if she doesn't want to.

Same here. I was already pro-choice, but since having a child I am even more so. No woman should be forced to have a child. It is simply appalling to me that anyone should think otherwise.

I am fortunate to have no firsthand experience of this issue, but I will complete the survey if I can - it is a matter of principle.

People that argue for and justify protesting outside abortion clinics place their views above the law and the rights of women to access healthcare without intimidation and with their dignity and privacy preserved.

I personally find it very offensive and presumptions about the reasons women have abortions, I feel the same about people who argue for the limit to be lowered, angry fist waving that completely ignores the complexities involved and the fact that the vast majority are done before 9 weeks and the rest are for medical reasons. Shame on anyone trying to make women feel the need to justify and defend their rights to zealots.

I'm idealistically pro-life. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't be. For me it's nothing to do with controlling women - why would I want to do that? I think people who are passionately pro-choice tend to prioritise the woman's needs and well-being. Others prioritise the unborn child denied its life. That's why I find abortion's cheerleaders distasteful. They completely dismiss the unborn but conceived human being who has no way of defending itself.

I absolutely don't believe in protesting publicly. I think people who do that are wicked and possibly deranged. I agree entering an abortion clinic must (surely?) be upsetting and there's no point making that worse for someone. I'm not looking to punish anyone.

I just find it very sad and unsettling how people find it so easy to pretend there is no victim in abortion. It's the ending of a human life before it has started. That sickens me. But it's a private belief and thought.

I don't think it should be banned.

Pro choice I just think when the fuck did it become everyone else's business weather someone has an abortion none else is in that exact situation or feels the exact same as that person going to get and abortion at the time. It's crazy have protesters think it is their business what happens to someone else's body

They're not looking at it from that perspective though.

They're standing up for the unborn child who will not be allowed to live.

It's just a matter of priorities. Pro-choice people prioritise the mother and her right to choose what she does with her body. Anti-abortionists prioritise the baby and the sanctity of human life which they do not believe doctors have the right to terminate.

In the real world I think most people generally respect both these standpoints. Unfortunately, when it comes to abortion, one position has to take precedence over the other.

EmpireVille

This is about protests outside clinics, please don't make it an abortion debate.

Yes pro choice prioritise the woman, the living, breathing, fully formed human being with thoughts, emotions and various circumstances.

Please read about the X case, A B and C, Ms Y, Savita Halappanavar, all cases where the priority of foetus had devastating effects on the women carrying them.

This is absolutely not a pro-choice v pro-life debate. It's not about if abortion is right or wrong.

All that is being asked is that the protesters move to a more appropriate location - where the laws are made and they can influence the decision makers.

I am pro-choice and find these aggressive protesters dreadful. I've never been in a position where I've needed a termination but have seen friends go through absolute hell, including one in the US. These protesters should be banned outside clinics.

If a pro-life campaigner is a good person, as I hope I am, then we need to prioritise the life of the baby AND the mother. It's inhumane to hold these protests with zero consideration for the women involved. You can't claim.to be concerned about the life of an unborn child when you treat the life of the mother woth such poor regard.

If I have to take a side than I am pro life. However, protests outside of abortion clinics are as low as you can go and need to be stopped. No one can say the decisions we will make in certain circumstances and while I cannot ever for a minute imagine considering that option, why should my moral ideas be forced on that of others?

I think everyone has a right to express their own thoughts and feelings, but I believe that doesn't mean they can do it anywhere, there are appropriate places to discuss it and outside an abortion clinic isn't one.

Everyone is pro life! It’s pro choice that’s the question.

Hopefully this campaign can stop these disgusting bullies and keep them away from women accessing legal medical help and clinic staff who also get hassle.

It must also be a bloody nuicence for the locals with these nutters hanging around hassling people.