Anti-abortion protesters who harass women outside hospitals and clinics could be fined or jailed under a proposed new law.
Paul Gavan, the Sinn Féin senator, introduced the safe access zones bill to the Seanad yesterday. The legislation would set a 100m buffer zone around premises providing pregnancy terminations.
Protesters who demonstrate outside pregnancy or contraception services or who harass, intimidate or record women within the buffer zone would face fines of up to €3,000 or imprisonment for up to six months. Under the legislation it would also be illegal to seek to influence a person’s decision to access abortion services or hold signs within the exclusion zone.
Gavan said the bill was designed to prevent “distressing and intimidatory” anti-abortion protests outside hospitals and health centres,
