A group of mothers has lodged a High Court challenge against a so-called “buffer zone” outside an abortion clinic today.
Alina Dulgheriu, a mother who was helped by a pro-life vigil, filed the challenge to Ealing Council’s decision to enforce a Public Space Protection Order mandating a 100m (328 ft) exclusion zone around an abortion clinic.
Ms Dulgheriu was joined at the press conference by other mothers who had been supported by vigils. “Without sufficient justification, Ealing council has decided to criminalise otherwise lawful behaviour…to criminalise charitable activity that is needed by some of the most vulnerable women in our society,” she said.
“I am asking that justice be done for those women who have been ignored by Ealing Council… I never expected a local council in the UK to make a decision that violates so many human rights: the right to free speech, the right to pray, the right to receive information and the right to assemble.”
“Ealing Council has publicly accepted that vulnerable women want and need the help of pro-life vigils, yet, they chose to remove that help,” she added. “They have knowingly removed help for the most vulnerable…. the physically abused…. immigrants, often with language difficulties.”
Another mother, Jacelyn said: “How can people who call themselves ‘pro-choice’ take away our choices? Ealing council want women like us to have only one choice: abortion. Even if that is not what we want at all.”
“over 500 women have accepted help from the vigil in Ealing over the past five years,” Clare Mulvany, an Ealing resident and pro-life activist said. “They have tried to speak to the council several times but the council ignored them. Council officials didn’t interview them for the report.”
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