Northern Ireland is set to become the first part of the UK to introduce controversial exclusion zones outside abortion centres.
The private members’ bill, brought by former abortion centre escort, Green Party leader, Claire Bailey, was passed by 55 votes to 29 at Stormont last night in a bitter blow for pro-life people across the North. The bill was carried to victory by every single MLA in the once ‘pro-life’ SDLP, the UUP, Sinn Fein, the Green Party, People before Profit and the Alliance party – with the DUP and the TUV being the only parties voting not to criminalise pro-life protestors.
The support for the bill is nothing short of remarkable; for one, because it came from SDLP and Ulster Unionist MLAs who, for years, campaigned for and received votes based on their self-declared commitment to protecting the unborn. Despite pleas from pro-lifers, not one SDLP MLA would sign the petition of concern put forward to stop the Bill becoming law, with just one signature needed to stop the Bill in its tracks in the final hours before it was voted through on Thursday.
The support for this law is also astonishing in view of the broad-based public opposition to the criminalisation of people gathering outside abortion facilities to protest, pray and offer support. Not only is there virtually no public demand for such a law, but there is a groundswell of active opposition to its implementation from those determined to protect the fundamental right to free speech and freedom of assembly. This was evidenced in the public consultation on exclusion zone legislation carried out in recent months in the North.
Just a tiny 0.2% of respondents to the public consultation were supportive of introducing the zones banning pro-life protest. A mere 13 out of a staggering 6,142 submissions received voiced support for banning a pro-life presence outside abortion facilities. Disregarding entirely the democratic voice of the people they pledge to represent, elected representatives pushed through the legislation anyway.
A reading of the Bill shows that it proposes that the exclusion zones can extend as far as 150 metres from the “protected premises” and the aim of the exclusion zone is to prevent any woman who has booked an abortion, is considering having an abortion, or does not know what to do about her pregnancy, from coming into contact with anyone who might make her think twice about abortion.
This is deeply unjust, and deprives women of the chance to consider options at a time when they are at their most vulnerable, and, as we’ve heard in the testimonies of women, often desperate to have a way out of going through with having an abortion.
’I WAS GIVEN ANOTHER OPTION BY THE WOMAN AT THE GATE’
The testimony of women across the UK and Ireland shows the importance of a pro-life presence at abortion facilities. Alina, whose daughter’s life was saved when she met pro-life protestors outside a Marie Stopes clinic in Ealing, says the offer of life-affirming help was crucial. In her case, the simple offer of help, and the fact that someone showed they cared about her and her unborn child, was life-saving.
Alina, who now volunteers herself outside the Marie Stopes centre, and has campaigned tirelessly against exclusion zones, says she made the choice to have an abortion because she didn’t have another solution to her crisis pregnancy. Deep down, she was crying out for help.
“Some people say that we shouldn’t be there because women have already made their choice. I think we all made our choice when we walked into the clinic. I made my choice to have an abortion because I didn’t have another solution,” she says. “So I made my choice, but once I walked through that gate, there was a woman there saying, ‘we can offer you help.’ Then I felt that I did have a choice. I can choose, yes or no. I chose not to go ahead with the abortion because I did have another option. I was given another option by the woman at the gate.”
Alina’s story is one that is all too familiar in the testimonies of post-abortive women. Although the Marie Stopes website promised ‘counselling and help to make the right decision’, Alina says she when she called and asked the abortion provider for help, she quickly discovered the only form help came in was in the form of an abortion.
She says the help she so desperately needed in her time of crisis came in the form of leaflet offered by a pro-life lady in a group praying quietly outside of the Marie Stopes. That offer of help changed her life and saved her baby girl, who went on to attend the pro-life gatherings with her, at the same place where her own little life very nearly came to an end.
“I myself have been at the Vigil since then, praying there and handing the women leaflets. There’s no harassment going on. I have been myself there, with my little girl when she was 2 years old. It’s not harassment.”
That same help will now be denied to the women of Northern Ireland, despite the fact that outreach from groups including Precious Life has saved lives. In a video recently released by the pro-life organisation, they spoke to one woman who is having her baby in three months after meeting Precious Life volunteers at an abortion centre in Belfast, where she had scheduled an abortion. Rather than feeling intimidated or threatened, she felt touched that someone cared enough to be there.
“Did you feel intimidated, harassed or fearful about us being there?” Precious Life director Bernadette Smyth asked her in a video released by the group ahead of this week’s vote at Stormont.
“No,” she said. “It was a nice gesture to me, because I think every mum needs help when they don’t have it. At that moment, I thought if she’s giving me this opportunity, why don’t I keep this child? Because I don’t know who this child is going to be. I phoned her myself the next day to let her know I changed my mind.” That lady has been in regular contact with the pro-life organisation, and is now excited about the birth of her baby boy.
Photographs of pro-life gatherings outside abortion centres in the North paint a picture which is in absolute contrast to the one portrayed by architect of this Bill, Clare Bailey. While Ms Bailey alleges incidents of shocking ‘harassment’ and ‘intimidation’, those involved in the protests point out that legislation already exists to deal with any such incidents. Moreover, they maintain that their presence is peaceful, and their only intention is to try and save the lives of those scheduled to be aborted. In social media photos of the prayer gatherings, people can be seen smiling and holding rosary beads, with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in attendance to pray along with local people. Knowing those in this order personally, I, along with many others, can attest to the fact such men would only ever be there in the context of caring. Above all, there presence at places where tiny lives are ended is a powerful witness to the dignity and worth of each and every human life.
This law will now deprive orders such as this one, along with normal people, of the opportunity to engage with women in crisis in a non-threatening manner. Women will now be deprived of that peaceful, prayerful presence at their time of need, and accessing a different perspective on the incredibly difficult situation of an unplanned pregnancy.
This legislation deprives people of the opportunity to do something as an act of compassion, while implying that any presence outside such centres is an act of intimidation, when in reality, it is one of empathy and compassion. The truth is that it would be much easier for pro-lifers to stay at home and not show up to places where they are often met with rebuttal and opposition.
Why are we only willing to allow one perspective, and one route out of the situation of a crisis pregnancy? This legislation is a tunnel-visioned approach to ensuring that women are forced to go through with abortion, deprived of the chance to follow another path. Such legislation has a sinister and coercive edge, designed to single-mindedly eliminate any other potential voice of concern that may be raised in support of life-affirming options, while assuming that any person who volunteers to be a voice for the voiceless outside these centres, is intimidatory. That is simply not true.
Offering help should never be illegal. Exclusion zones do not help or empower women but rob them of support. In reality, with nobody there to show they care, these zones will make a lonely walk to the abortion clinic even more lonely — and an already desperately difficult situation for mothers in crisis, even more difficult.