British ‘Buffer Zone’ Law Threatens Pro-Life Speech

Abortion activists abroad are pressing forward into a foreboding new frontier: weaponizing the law to limit what you can do, say, or even think on public streets surrounding abortion clinics. Their efforts represent a kind of censorship that violates not only the right to free expression, but also the innermost sanctum of free thought.

Despite the American movement’s historic victory in the Dobbs case, in many parts of the world, it is growing more difficult, and sometimes even dangerous, to hold pro-life views. In the United Kingdom, praying in front of an abortion clinic could soon land you in jail for up to two years. Parliament is currently debating a sweeping “buffer zone” law that would restrict speech within a certain distance of the country’s abortion clinics. In a frantic effort to shore up abortion access at the expense of basic human rights, the law would impose a broad ban on “informing,” “advising,” “influencing,” “persuading,” and even “expressing an opinion” around places where women can obtain an abortion.

Abortion activists abroad are pressing forward into a foreboding new frontier: weaponizing the law to limit what you can do, say, or even think on public streets surrounding abortion clinics. Their efforts represent a kind of censorship that violates not only the right to free expression, but also the innermost sanctum of free thought.

Despite the American movement’s historic victory in the Dobbs case, in many parts of the world, it is growing more difficult, and sometimes even dangerous, to hold pro-life views. In the United Kingdom, praying in front of an abortion clinic could soon land you in jail for up to two years. Parliament is currently debating a sweeping “buffer zone” law that would restrict speech within a certain distance of the country’s abortion clinics. In a frantic effort to shore up abortion access at the expense of basic human rights, the law would impose a broad ban on “informing,” “advising,” “influencing,” “persuading,” and even “expressing an opinion” around places where women can obtain an abortion.