Abortion clinic “safe access zones” to take effect nationally
Public Law and Judicial Review, Local Government
The Government has announced that from 31 October 2024 “safe access zones” will take effect around all abortion clinics in England and Wales. This will be achieved by bringing into force s.9 of the Public Order Act 2023, which received Royal Assent in May 2023 with cross-party support but had not yet taken effect.
Similar rules were implemented in Northern Ireland in September 2023, and will take effect in Scotland on 24 September 2024. This means that after 31 October there will be “safe access zones” in place across the whole of the UK. Similar legislation is also presently at the final stages of consideration in the Republic of Ireland.
In England and Wales, “safe access zones” will apply in all public areas within 150 metres of all abortion clinics. Within that zone all persons will be forbidden from doing any acts with the intention to, or recklessness as to whether it has the effect of, (i) ‘influencing’ any person’s decision to access an abortion; (ii) obstructing or impeding any person’s access to the clinic; or (iii) causing harassment, alarm or distress to any person in connection with a decision to access an abortion. Anyone who breaches these rules commits a criminal offence which is punishable by an unlimited fine.
Kuljit Bhogal KC advised on various aspects of the Act and specifically in relation to subsection 5 which creates exceptions for those providing abortion care, those accompanying a person accessing abortion care and the operation of a camera where coverage of persons accessing abortion care is incidental to its operation.
Several local authorities in England had previously created “safe access zones” within their own districts by making Public Spaces Protection Orders (“PSPOs”) imposing similar rules outside individual clinics. Legal challenges by pro-life protesters against two such PSPOs – made in Ealing in 2018 and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in 2022 – were dismissed by the High Court and Court of Appeal.
Ranjit Bhose KC, Kuljit Bhogal KC and Tara O’Leary from Cornerstone Barristers advised those authorities on the adoption of their PSPOs and successfully acted for them in the court proceedings. These cases first established the principle that abortion “safe access zones” were a lawful means of protecting access to abortion healthcare services, building on initiatives in other jurisdictions including Canada and Australia.
The Supreme Court subsequently endorsed these principles when it upheld the Northern Irish legislation: In re. Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Northern Ireland) Bill [2022] UKSC 32.
Barristers from Cornerstone have acted in all of the legal challenges concerning PSPOs which have yet come before the courts, and have advised numerous local authorities on consultation, investigation and decision-making related to PSPOs. The second edition of Kuljit’s book, Cornerstone on Anti-Social Behaviour, includes a chapter dedicated to PSPOs.
Members of chambers have also acted in numerous important cases concerning the right to protest, including City of London Corp v Samede [2012] EWCA Civ 160; Canada Goose v Persons Unknown [2020] 1 WLR 2802; Barking & Dagenham LBC v Persons Unknown [2022] EWHC Civ 13; and R (Hacking) v Stratford Magistrates’ Court [2022] EWHC 2733 (Admin).
