Victoria to introduce buffer zones around abortion clinics
The Victorian government has agreed to bring in a legislation that would ban anti-abortion campaigners from protesting within 150 metres of an abortion or fertility clinic in the state. The move follows Sex Party MP Fiona Patten’s private member's bill, which called for the creation of the buffer zones to safeguard patients and staff in anti-abortion clinics.
Victoria plans to introduce the bill before the end of 2015 and impose harsh penalties on anti-abortion campaigners, who allegedly intimidate staff and patients at these clinics. However, the government has not promised to enforce all the terms contained in the MP’s private bill, reports the SBS.
Victoria’s Health Minister Jill Hennessy said her government supported Patten’s terms “in principle” though it has to consider more aspects in deciding the key elements of the bill.
“We don't want to create a set of rules where we produce unintended consequences. Ultimately we're going to probably have to land on a distance,” the minister said.
Matter of safety
According to the Sex Party MP, protest-free zones are critical to the mental health and physical safety of staff and patients.
“What we need to ensure is that women can get off a tram, can park their cars and they can have some space where they are not going to be harassed or intimidated, or challenged with offensive posters,” said Patten.
Clinical psychologist Dr Susie Allanson also testified to the violent behavior of anti-abortion activists. She has worked for 24 years at the Fertility Control Clinic in East Melbourne, where anti-abortion protesters have been regularly protesting for several hours in the morning, causing severe psychological strain on staff and women who enter the facility.
“You do have this sense that you're unsafe. The extremists don't have a sense of how inappropriate their behaviour is,” she said.
However, anti-abortion groups have been quick to deny such accusations and said such laws would infringe on their right to free speech and free assembly. Dr Katrina Haller, from Right to Life Australia said protesters are not harassing women or acting aggressively.
“We're not doing anything defamatory,” Dr Haller added. Fertility Control Clinic faced many dangerous attacks by the protesters. In 2001, one of its security guards, Stephen Rogers, was murdered by anti-abortion campaigner Peter James Knight. Allanson noted the incident did not lead to any substantial reform in protecting the staff and patients at the clinic.
Clinic loses legal battle
Meanwhile, a Melbourne abortion clinic has lost a court battle that sought to force the Melbourne City Council into restraining pro-life activists from protesting outside the clinic’s premises. For over 20 years, protestors from The Helpers of God's Precious Infants have been gathering outside the East Melbourne Fertility Control Clinic and tried to stop women from getting abortions.
The clinic appealed to the Victorian Supreme Court to order the council to enforce existing laws and push out the protesters. The clinic argued that the protesters were a nuisance and endangering the health of its clients. But the court has ruled that the council is not wrong in not taking any action, reports the ABC.
"I have concluded that there was no actual or constructive failure by council to perform the duties imposed upon it by the [Public Health and Wellbeing] Act," Justice Michael McDonald ruled. But he told the clinic that the matter could be better settled privately by approaching the Victoria Police. He said the conduct of the protesters such as blocking the entrance of the clinic could be construed as nuisance.
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