This morning, 18 September, the UK Government announced that legislation to enact so-called ‘safe access zones’ or ‘buffer zones’ outside abortion facilities in England and Wales will come into force from 31 October.

This legislation, contained in section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023, criminalises a range of activities within a 150-metre perimeter of an abortion facility. Such activities potentially include prayer, thought, peaceful presence, consensual communication and offers of practical support to women in vulnerable situations, should any of these be deemed to influence or interfere with access to the clinic.

Such legislation remains deeply concerning as a threat to freedom of speech, thought, conscience and religion for people of all faiths and none. 

Following the announcement, Bishop John Sherrington, the Lead Bishop for Life Issues for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said: 

“As the Catholic Bishops’ Conference repeatedly stated during the passage of the Public Order Bill last year, ‘safe access zone’ legislation is unnecessary and disproportionate. We condemn all harassment and intimidation of women and hold that, as was accepted in a Home Office Review, there are already laws and mechanisms in place to protect women from such behaviour. 

“In practice, and despite any other intention, this legislation constitutes discrimination and disproportionately affects people of faith. Religious freedom is the foundational freedom of any free and democratic society, essential for the flourishing and realisation of dignity of every human person. Religious freedom includes the right to manifest one’s private beliefs in public through witness, prayer and charitable outreach, including outside abortion facilities. 

“As well as being unnecessary and disproportionate, we have deep concerns around the practical effectiveness of this legislation, particularly given the lack of clarity in relation to the practice of private prayer and offers of help within ‘safe access zones’. 

“As Pope Francis has reminded us, ‘a healthy pluralism, one which genuinely respects differences and values them as such, does not entail privatising religions in an attempt to reduce them to the quiet obscurity of the individual’s conscience or to relegate them to the enclosed precincts of churches, synagogues or mosques. This would represent, in effect, a new form of discrimination and authoritarianism’. By legislating for and implementing so-called ‘safe access zones’, the UK Government has taken an unnecessary and disproportionate step backwards in the protection of religious and civic freedoms in England and Wales.” 

From Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales