A retired medical scientist is standing trial this week for offering assistance to women within an abortion clinic buffer zone.
Livia Tossici-Bolt, 63, was approached by local officials in Bournemouth as she held up a sign saying “Here to talk. If you want”.
The officials accused her of breaching the terms of the abortion clinic buffer zone, which state that it is not permitted to “express approval or disapproval of abortion”.
Tossici-Bolt was ordered to pay a Fixed Penalty Notice, which she refused to do on the grounds that she had not expressed any views at all on abortion but had merely made herself available for conversation.
Tossici-Bolt also said that Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, permitted her to offer consensual conversations.
He said, “There’s nothing wrong with two adults engaging in a consensual conversation on the street. I shouldn’t be treated like a criminal just for this.”
The retired scientist also claimed that a number of people had approached her to have conversations about life in general.
The Alliance Defending Freedom UK is supporting her legal case.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF International, said: “Under far-reaching and vaguely-written rules, we have seen volunteers like Livia criminalised simply for offering to engage in consensual conversation; and others dragged through courts for praying, even silently, in their minds.
The principle of freedom of thought and speech must be defended both within and outside ‘buffer zones’.
“It’s unthinkable that as real crime is mounting, policing time and resources are being expended on peaceful individuals like Livia who simply, and peacefully, offer to speak. What kind of society does that?”
The issue of abortion clinic buffer zones recently hit the headlines after criticism by US Vice President JD Vance, who said they were an infringement on free speech. He referred specifically to the case of residents in Scotland who were warned that private prayer in homes falling within buffer zones could be a breach of the law.
The MSP behind the Scottish version of the law, Gillian Mackay, claimed this was “misinformation” before admitting that there are in fact circumstances when prayer in one’s home could fall foul of the law.
A number of people have been charged with apparently breaching abortion clinic buffer zones under dubious circumstances. Adam Smith-Connor was charged for praying within a buffer zone, while last week in Scotland Rose Doherty was arrested for holding up a sign that read “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, if you want”.
