Woman found guilty of breaching UK abortion clinic safe zone in case watched by Trump administration

LONDON (AFP) — An anti-abortion activist caught up in a freedom of speech row between the U.S. and the U.K. was found guilty on Friday of breaching a “buffer zone” outside an abortion clinic.

Anti-abortion campaigner Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64, was sentenced to a two-year conditional discharge at a magistrates’ court in Poole, southwest England, after being convicted of two charges of breaching the Public Spaces Protection Order twice in March 2023.

Her case has triggered a warning from an office within the U.S. Department of State, at a time when London’s relations with Washington are strained over President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.

“We are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom,” the Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Bureau wrote on X on Sunday. “We are monitoring her case. It is important that the U.K. respect and protect freedom of expression.”

Tossici-Bolt, who met the head of the United States bureau during his visit to the U.K., was found guilty of standing inside the safe zone set up around the clinic, holding a sign saying: “Here to talk, if you want.”

Judge Orla Austin told the hearing the case was “not about the rights and wrongs about abortion but about whether the defendant was in breach” of the public spaces protection order.

The safe zone came into effect outside the Bournemouth clinic run by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service in October 2022, following a local consultation.

The clinic had been “subjected to decades of anti-abortion protests which resulted in more than 500 reports of harassment before this local safe access zone was brought into force,” service director Heidi Stewart told the court.

She added the case was “never about global politics but about the simple ability of women to access legal healthcare free from harassment.”

On Friday a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “The U.K. has a very proud tradition of free speech over many centuries and we remain proud of it today.”

“Speaking generally, it’s vital that a woman who decides to use abortion services has the right to choose to do so without being subject to harassment or distress,” the spokesperson added.

The judge explained the conditional discharge meant Tossici-Bolt could be given another sentence if she commits a further offense in the next two years, and also ordered her to pay £20,000 ($26,000) toward court costs.

After the hearing, Tossici-Bolt said it was a “dark day for Great Britain” and she would consider her legal options.

“The U.S. State Department was right to be concerned by this case, as it has serious implications for the entire Western world,” she said.

“If we allow this precedent of censorship to stand, nobody’s right to freely express themselves is secure,” she added.

Judge Austin said: “It’s apparent that you might disagree with it, but I have found you guilty.

“I accept your beliefs were firmly held but you have chosen to pursue this matter and you had the option of moving only a very short distance to avoid sanction.”

—

By Agence France-Presse