Woman appealing conviction for protest in abortion clinic buffer zone continues weekly demonstrations outside hospital
A Co Antrim woman who is appealing her conviction for protesting inside the protest buffer zone at the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine is still protesting outside the hospital on a weekly basis.
Claire Brennan, 53, has also confirmed that she will represent herself in court in her legal appeal against her conviction.
The issue of abortion clinic buffer zones made international headlines in February when the US Vice President JD Vance singled them out for criticism in a speech to the Munich Security Conference.
The US State Department last week publicly voiced support for retired NHS scientist Dr Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64 after she was convicted of protesting in a buffer zone in Bournemouth, Dorset.
In Coleraine Magistrates Court in December, Rasharkin woman Ms Brennan, 53, was convicted of protesting in the buffer zone at the Causeway Coast Hospital in 2023.
She describes herself as a Roman Catholic business owner who also helps run a family farm.
The campaigner had argued that under the European Convention of Human Rights she was entitled to protest due to her right to freedom of religion.
However, District Judge Peter King found that a 2022 Supreme Court ruling correctly balanced the rights of protestors with those of women seeking abortion – and that her defence was invalid.
Stormont had introduced ‘safe access zones’ ranging from 100 metres to 150m (extendable to 250m) around eight abortion clinics in Northern Ireland in 2023.
Ms Brennan's appeal against her conviction will come up for a mention in court on 29 April.
"At present I am preparing my arguments as a litigant in person for my case," she told the News Letter.
She also has the backing of a major Christian charity, she added.
In the meantime she is still attending the weekly pro life prayer vigil at Causeway Hospital - but outside the buffer zone.
"According to official figures we understand that ten babies are aborted here every week and that over 8490 have been aborted in Northern Ireland since 2020," she added.
"We do get people driving past giving us their support but there is also some very bad opposition with people – and their children – screaming at us. I would say it is pretty evenly split."
Her fellow protestor, 85-year-old Malachy McCormick from Draperstown, has attended twice a week for two-and-a-half years.
The carpenter has made 50 wooden crosses which he brings every time and displays along the route into the clinic.
"The crosses are meant to be memoriam, the only memoriam aborted babies will ever get," he said.
"My aim is to draw attention but it is often the kind of attention that people don't want. Some people don't want to think that babies are being killed here.”
In late 2023 the PSNI told the BBC that more buffer zone breaches were reported in Coleraine than at any other NI clinic at the time - 20 out of the total of 50.
Lauren McAuley of the pro-choice group North Coast for Choice, condemned posters, placards and white crosses being used by some pro-life campaigners at the Causeway Hospital at that time.
"I believe that the protesters who come here [Coleraine] are not showing any remorse or sympathy for those who may need abortion services," she said.
The Northern Health Trust was invited to comment.