Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how they plan to prevent harassment and intimidation of women accessing abortion services.

This country has a proud history of allowing free speech, but the right to peaceful protest does not extend to harassment or threatening behaviour. The police have a range of powers to deal with any such acts.

Under the Public Order Act 1986, chief officers may impose conditions on assemblies to prevent serious public disorder, serious damage to property, serious disruption to the life of the community or when the purpose is to intimidate others to compel them not to do an act that they have a right to do.

The police also have dispersal powers (in public places) under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 includes criminal offences that protect individuals, who are conducting lawful activities, from harassment by protestors. How these powers are deployed and the tactics used to manage protests are operational matters for the police.

Public Space Protection Orders are tools which local authorities can use to stop people committing anti-social behaviour in a public place, applying restrictions to how that public space can be used. They cannot be used to prohibit static protests.