14.This section makes it an offence for a person who is in a safe access zone to act in a certain way towards a person who is also in the safe access zone for the purpose of accessing, providing or facilitating the provision of abortion services at a protected premises:
Subsection (1)(a) makes it an offence for a person within a safe access zone to do anything that intentionally or recklessly influences another person’s decision to access abortion services at a protected premises (or provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services there).
Subsection (1)(b) makes it an offence for a person within a safe access zone to do anything that intentionally or recklessly prevents or impedes another person from accessing abortion services at a protected premises (or providing or facilitating the provision of abortion services there).
Subsection (1)(c) makes it an offence for a person within a safe access zone to do anything that intentionally or recklessly causes harassment, alarm or distress to another person in connection to their decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services at a protected premises.
15.Examples of acts that may constitute an offence include holding up signs with anti-abortion messages, physically blocking the entrances to protected premises, and protesting. However, these actions would need to be carried out with an intention listed above (or carried out recklessly).
16.In certain circumstances, the accused and the affected person do not need to be in the safe access zone at the same time. Subsection (2) provides that where a person does an act that has a continuing effect, it does not matter if the other person affected was not in the safe access zone at the time the act was carried out. For example, a person who chains the doors of a protected premises shut in the middle of the night could commit an offence if it impedes another person’s ability to access the protected premises the next morning.
17.A person who commits an offence is liable to (on summary conviction) a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (being £10,000 on the date of introduction of the Bill for the Act), or (on conviction on indictment) to an unlimited fine.
18.This section applies to a person who is in an area (referred to in the Act as the “relevant area”) that does not form part of the safe access zone for the protected premises but is situated between the protected premises and the boundary of the safe access zone. The relevant area may be an indoor area or a wholly enclosed structure within the safe access zone (for example, a residential building) or a private outdoor area (for example, a private garden). It does not form part of the safe access zone because it is not a public area (within the meaning of section 2(7)).
19.This section makes it an offence for a person in a relevant area to act in the same way as described in section 4(1) if that act is capable of being seen or heard by another person who is within the safe access zone (for example, the actions of a person inside their residential flat that are visible through the windows to another person who is standing in the safe access zone). By contrast, the offence in section 4(1) only applies to the actions of a person who is in the safe access zone for protected premises.
20.The accused and the affected person do not need to be in the safe access zone at the same time. Subsection (3) provides that where a person does an act that has a continuing effect, it does not matter if the other person affected was not in the safe access zone at the time the act was carried out. For example, if a person who lives in a building in the area within the boundary of the safe access zone displays an anti-abortion sign in the window of their building with the intention of influencing another person’s decision to access abortion services at the nearby protected premises and leaves that sign on display, an offence could be committed if an affected person sees or could have seen the sign at any time. It is not necessary for the affected person to be present at the time the accused affixes the sign to the window.
21.A person who commits an offence is liable to (on summary conviction) a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (being £10,000 on the date of introduction of the Bill for the Act), or (on conviction on indictment) to an unlimited fine.
22.This section creates exceptions to the offences in sections 4(1) and 5(1). The exceptions relate to anything done by a person who is:
accompanying another person who is accessing (or attempting to access) abortion services at protected premises, but only where the person is accompanying the other person with the other person’s permission and only to the extent that the person’s act affects the other person (if the person acts in a way that affects another person whom they are not accompanying, then that may be an offence),
anything done in the course of providing, or facilitating the provision of, abortion services (meaning treatment for the termination of pregnancy that is authorised under the 1967 Act) or other health care at protected premises (for example, the provision of counselling services),
engaging in peaceful picketing (relating to workplace industrial action) that is lawful under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. Section 220 of that Act makes it clear that peaceful picketing is lawful only in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute and if done for the purpose only of peacefully obtaining or communicating information, or peacefully persuading any person to work or abstain from working.
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