Abortion protest case: Trump administration stepping in welcomed by DUP MP

Last Friday (4th), courts in England found Livia Tossici-Bolt, 65, guilty of failing to leave a protest buffer zone around a Bournemouth abortion clinic when ordered to.

She disputes the verdict, insisting she was not protesting but offering “consensual conversation in a public place, as is my basic right, and yet the court found me guilty”. Given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £20,000 costs, after the case she stated that “freedom of expression is in a state of crisis in the UK.”

The case attracted the attention of the US state department, officials from which tweeted in support of Dr Tossici-Bolt after the case – stating they’re “disappointed” with the conviction and adding: “Freedom of expression must be protected for all.”

US officials also met the 65-year-old last month during a visit to the UK, along with a US-backed anti-abortion group that supported her case.

The American involvement has been welcomed by DUP MP Carla Lockhart, who feels the case is part of “a broader intolerance toward deeply held Christian beliefs and the right to peacefully express them in public”.

She said: “It’s deeply troubling that in modern Britain, individuals can be arrested or convicted simply for offering a quiet, compassionate presence near abortion clinics – often just to listen or pray.

"I welcome any efforts, including from the Trump administration, to stand up for the rights of those who speak for the voiceless and uphold the sanctity of life.”

The state department’s involvement has also been welcomed by pro-life campaigners, including evangelical Christian group Abolish Abortion NI, with a spokesperson stating: “Whatever your views on President Trump, he is a champion for free speech, which has been consistently eroded in the past number of years.

"We are seeing the removal of expressive rights from the public square. Abortion was forced on the people of Northern Ireland undemocratically, now they want to remove any element of opposition to abortion “rights”. It is a totalitarian agenda being forced on the people under the illusion of women's rights.”

Liam Gibson, policy and legal officer for the Northern Ireland branch of campaign body the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said the US administration is “right to be concerned about what is happening to civil rights in the UK”, branding Dr Tossici-Bolt’s conviction “the latest case in a pattern of persecution and censorship in British society”.

"The criminalisation of pro-life outreach is not simply an attack on freedom of speech, it is also designed to prevent women from receiving information they have a right to hear,” he said.

"The introduction of buffer zones was never intended to prevent harassment or intimidation; that was already illegal. Instead, the legislation is aimed at restricting religious expression and freedom of conscience. Almost all the prosecutions under buffer zone laws have involved a religious element.”

In the wake of outrage over the case, a Downing Street official said buffer zones reinforce that the right to protest “does not give people the right to harass others”, while maintaining Britain has “a very proud tradition of free speech over many centuries”.