Pro-life volunteer charged after offering help to women with unplanned pregnancies

The local authority in Bournemouth has charged a retired medical scientist who held an indication near an abortion clinic saying “here to speak, if you ought to”. 

Bournemouth council accuses Livia Tossici-Bolt of breaching a buffer zone which criminalises expressions of approval or disapproval of abortion inside 150m of the clinic.

The Alliance Defending Freedom UK (ADF), which is supporting her, said that several individuals approached Tossici-Bolt to debate their circumstances while she was holding the sign. 

She has been charged after she refused to pay a hard and fast penalty notice issued by the council. She denies breaching the terms of the buffer zone and argues that the correct to consensual conversations is protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act. 

The 62 12 months old is awaiting a trial date at Poole Magistrates’ Court. She said it shouldn’t be against the law to supply help. 

“We all condemn harassment. But ‘buffer zones’ are going thus far even to criminalise activities that are peaceful and helpful,” she said.

“For several years now, I even have been offering a helping hand to women who would love to contemplate other options to abortion, and pointing them to options where they will receive financial and practical support, if that is what they would love.

“There’s nothing fallacious with offering help. There’s nothing fallacious with two adults engaging in a consensual conversation on the road. I should not be treated like a criminal only for this.”

Jeremiah Igunnubole, Legal Counsel for ADF UK, blamed “vaguely-written” buffer zone measures, which have seen some pro-life volunteers arrested for praying silently of their heads. 

“The principle of freedom of thought and speech have to be defended each inside and out of doors ‘buffer zones’,” he said.

“The Home Office have sought to maintain our country in step with international law by protecting freedom of thought and of consensual conversation within the draft buffer zone guidance. It is significant, for the preservation of democracy, that this stands.”

The local council recently apologised to Tossici-Bolt for causing her to feel “distressed and harassed” on a separate occasion when officers wrongfully tried to maneuver her from a public street for holding an indication that said “Pregnant? Need help?” together with the number for a helpline.

She was accused of being throughout the buffer zone however the council later conceded that she was outside the boundary.

Igunnubole said her treatment had exposed the “reality of the slippery slope of censorship”.

“If the state is allowed to criminalise the mere holding of pro-life viewpoints inside certain public spaces, on what basis can we object to criminalisation in all public spaces?” he said. 

“The purported blanket bans on prayer and consensual conversations were never concerning the prevention of harassment and intimidation – in spite of everything, within the UK, not a single pro-life vigil volunteer has been convicted for harassment and intimidation in over 40 years of pro-life presence near abortion facilities.”