Abortion: Demonstrations

(asked on 20th July 2023) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the prosecution decision in the case of Adam Smith-Connor for praying near an abortion clinic; and what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Section 9 of the Public Order Act and safe access zones on the protection of freedom of thought and assembly outside abortion clinics.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 4th September 2023

Ahead of the commencement of section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023, the College of Policing and the Crown Prosecution Service are updating relevant public order guidance and training to reflect the inclusion of the offence of interference with access to or provision of abortion services.

In accordance with human rights obligations, the College of Policing and the Crown Prosecution Service are required to consider the rights provided under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), including the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, which is an absolute right under Article 9 of the ECHR, Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and directly linked to freedom of opinion in Article 10 of the ECHR. As an absolute right, there can be no legitimate justification on the part of the public authority to limit, interfere or otherwise penalise persons for their exercise of the right to freedom of thought.

Public bodies must also consider Article 11 of the ECHR (freedom of assembly and association), recognising this is a qualified right, which can sometimes be infringed upon to uphold other rights.

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