Government announces it will introduce abortion safe access zones in October

In a major victory for a longstanding Humanists UK campaign, the UK Government has today announced that it will introduce safe access zones around all abortion clinics in England and Wales from October. Humanists UK, which has campaigned for the move for several years, including as part of the Back Off campaign coalition, welcomed the news.

Parliament first legislated for safe access zones in March 2023 – a move Humanists UK supported through the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG). However, the previous Government repeatedly delayed bringing the law into force. It also proposed religious exemptions from it that would have rendered it meaningless. It is uncertain what exemptions if any will remain in the new Government’s implementation but some reports have suggested that these loopholes are set to be removed.

Announcing the move, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips said:

‘The right to access abortion services is a fundamental right for women in this country, and no one should feel unsafe when they seek to access this. We will not sit back and tolerate harassment, abuse and intimidation as people exercise their legal right to healthcare, which is why we have fast-tracked this measure to get it up and running without further delay. For too long abortion clinics have been without these vital protections, and this government is determined to do all we can do to make this country a safer place for women.’

What are safe access zones?

Recent years have seen a sharp increase in the size and extent of religious protesters picketing abortion clinics in the UK. Using tactics imported from the United States, these protesters can display graphic images, hurl insults, and call women and clinic staff ‘murderers’ as they approach the building. Women who have attempted to access abortion services have described this as a ‘gauntlet of abuse’.

Safe access zones are an innovation – piloted successfully in parts of the United States, Canada and Australia – to uphold women’s fundamental right to access healthcare. They require the space around abortion clinics to be free to access for all patients. This means protesters have to move their signs and soapboxes down the street, or direct their attention to policymakers, rather than vulnerable women and girls. Those accessing abortion services include women who are victims of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault.

The Scottish Parliament voted to implement safe access zones in June, and they are already in force in Northern Ireland.

Humanists UK Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson commented:

‘We welcome the Government’s move to finally introduce safe access zones. Freedom of religion or belief is of course a vital right, but like many freedoms, it can and should be limited where it impinges on the rights and freedoms of others. Safe access zones don’t prevent people from protesting against abortion, or from having the right to pray. They just remove people’s ability to harass women while they are accessing abortion services. Such protests are more properly targeted at the state and its decision to make abortion legal in the first place, rather than individual women.’