A woman has been fined £20k for holding a sign offering conversation inside an abortion censorship zone.
Dr Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64, was found guilty after holding a sign saying “here to talk if you want” near a British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinic in Bournemouth. She made no mention of abortion or pregnancy.
Her case has garnered international attention, as the U.S. State Department stated on X that they were monitoring her case as an example of how the UK is respecting free speech.
Tossici-Bolt said: “This is a dark day for Great Britain. I was not protesting and did not harass or obstruct anyone. All I did was offer consensual conversation in a public place, as is my basic right, and yet the court found me guilty. Freedom of expression is in a state of crisis in the UK.”
She added: “What has happened to this country? The US State Department was right to be concerned by this case as it has serious implications for the entire Western world.”
Lorcán Price, Legal Counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, which is supporting Tossici-Bolt, commented: “Everyone who cares about free speech should care about ‘buffer zones’”, adding that a “woman has been convicted merely for offering to chat on a public street in Britain”.
He continued: “This ruling should show all reasonable people that, beyond the shadow of a doubt, abortion facility ‘buffer zones’ are incompatible with a free society.”
The Christian Institute is providing support to a retired pastor from Northern Ireland who is being prosecuted for holding an open-air Sunday service within one of the Province’s eight abortion censorship zones.
Clive Johnston, a former President of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, was cautioned by police on 7 July last year after preaching on John 3:16 in the vicinity of Coleraine’s Causeway Hospital.
Although Mr Johnston did not mention abortion and was separated from the hospital by a dual carriageway, he was later charged with seeking to ‘influence’ people accessing abortion services, within the censorship zone around the hospital.
If convicted, the 76-year-old grandfather of seven faces a criminal record and could similarly be fined thousands of pounds.