TOGETHER for Safety, the Limerick group campaigning to protect people from anti-abortion protests and activities, has welcomed a report from the Oireachtas Health Committee paving the way for Safe Access Zone legislation.
Alongside last week’s commitment made by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to have Safe Zones around hospitals and GP premises in place by July, activists are very hopeful that their five year wait for safety is nearly over.
“We are delighted,” said Yvie Murphy, co-convener of Together for Safety. “People continue to contact us from all around the country to share how distressing they find the protests, we should all be allowed to go to the doctor without being watched, distressed and intimidated.”
Co-convener Karen Sugrue added that the group “have been contacted by Gardaí, nurses, doctors who all find these protests incredibly upsetting and stressful as they try to go to work”.
“We’ve also been contacted by cancer patients and bereaved mothers who have spoken of their grief and trauma of having to pass these protesters shortly after their losses.”
“It’s important to remember that we do not have abortion clinics in Ireland. We have maternity hospitals, family planning clinics, and GPs, so these protests target absolutely everyone. It is cruel and traumatic and serves no purpose except to intimidate and cause distress.”
When the Safe Access Zones are in place, they will operate exactly as the Safe Zones around polling stations on election days have worked since they were brought in in the early 90s.
People are still free to protest, they must just keep 100 metres back from these healthcare facilities. A survey conducted in 2020 by the Womens Council of Ireland showed that 85 per cent of people support Safe Access Zones.
The legislation providing for the new Safe Access Zones was drawn up by the Limerick group in consultation with doctors, legal experts, trade unions, and civil liberties groups was accepted by the Dáil last year and now requires enactment by the legislators.
In the last month, a nationwide group of GPs has been set up under the banner of START to campaign against allowing anti-abortion protests on their doorsteps and have been posting pictures to an online group of such activities.
