A pro-choice member of Parliament opposes a measure that would seemingly limit pro-lifers' right to protest outside abortion clinics in the United Kingdom, saying her stance got her "in trouble."
The UK Public Order Bill, introduced in May 2022, is intended to crack down on disruptive protests across the nation, according to the government. For instance, the bill will put a maximum penalty of 12 months’ imprisonment on individuals whose demonstrations obstruct national infrastructure, or a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment for those obstructing or interfering with the construction or maintenance of transport projects.
"This government fully supports the right of individuals to engage in peaceful protest; however, the serious disruption caused by a small minority of protestors has highlighted that more needs to be done to protect the public and businesses from these unacceptable actions," the UK government website reads, adding that the new measures "are needed to bolster the police’s powers to respond more effectively to disruptive and dangerous protests."
The bill was introduced to address disruptive tactics used by climate protesters, which Fox said she "understands." The MP lamented the rise of groups like Extinction Rebellion, and Just Stop Oil - eco protesters who she said have disrupted the lives of ordinary people by taking over streets and who believe they can "bully" people into giving into their net-zero demands. In that sense, she gets the government mentality to crack down on those who are "abusing" the right to protest.
But she's among the lawmakers opposed to an amendment, now called Clause 9, which establishes a 150-meter "buffer zone" outside abortion clinics. The bill says "influencing any person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services" within a "safe access zone," is now considered an offense. Fox viewed it as a sinister side to the legislation.
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"The Public Order Bill is a particularly draconian piece of legislation which the government has brought in to limit the right to protest," Claire Fox, a member of the House of Lords, said. "And there are some aspects of it that are incredibly illiberal and damaging."
"When you bring in a piece of legislation or law, you can't name in that law who you're aiming at," she added. "So the problem we've got is they're bringing in this bill in which they are absolutely adamantly trying to stop people having the right to creative forms of protest. It's going to be used against all sorts of people."
"The right to free assembly is under assault," she said.
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The left-leaning lawmaker said she found herself on a surprising side of the debate, considering she's staunchly "pro-choice."
"And I was quite surprised when this came up because there I am with all the liberal lefties - and that's my tradition - arguing against the government being draconian about laws to protest… and the same people said they should ban pro-life protesters," Fox said. "And I said well that's a bit inconsistent. That's draconian, isn't it?"
"And I am, just to clarify, absolutely pro-choice and have been known as an activist on that," she said. "I'm not religious… Actually I think the people standing outside abortion clinics are being insensitive, and it's a ridiculous form of protest - but that's not the point, is it? The point is the principle. And so I argued against that as well, which got me in some trouble."
In a sense, she says "it carves away public space from free speech."
The member of the House of Lords and her like-minded colleagues lost the debate over the bill in January as her peers passed an amendment to place buffer zones around all abortion clinics in England and Wales. It now needs final approval from the House of Commons to become law. But, Fox said she "hopefully" won the moral argument.
But groups in favor of the buffer zones amendment, like Humanists UK, say it will help crack down on protesters trying to "harass" women entering and leaving abortion clinics.
"Buffer zones draw the line in the right place by simply moving protesters to places where it would be harder for them to harass women," the Humanists UK’s spokesperson said. "We applaud parliamentarians’ hard-work to protect reproductive rights in the face of rising anti-abortion protests and urge them to continue their efforts to see this reform to come to fruition."
The debate over pro-life protesters' presence outside abortion clinics has come to a head in the U.S. as well. In February, the Justice Department indicted eight people under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or the FACE Act, for an incident that took place outside an abortion clinic in Michigan in 2020.
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Republicans and conservative activists said the DOJ and the FBI aren’t playing fair, since only two arrests had been made following dozens of attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile, the DOJ has prosecuted over 30 pro-life protesters over the last year, as of February.
Fox News' Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.
