Calls to create a ‘buffer-zone’ outside abortion clinics in Manchester will be reviewed after over a thousand people backed the plan.

Campaigners want the town hall to introduce a ‘public space protection order’ outside the clinics - meaning that anti-abortion protestors would be barred from certain areas.

They argue that people attending the Marie Stopes clinic in Fallowfield face harassment and intimidation from protestors .

Pro-life campaigners 40 Days For Life argue that their vigils outside the clinic are peaceful.

40 Days for Life representatives in Manchester are challenging the council's buffer zone proposals
40 Days for Life representatives in Manchester are challenging the council's buffer zone proposals

Manchester council has been reviewing the situation outside the clinic in Fallowfield and has been gathering evidence from local residents, staff at Marie Stopes and pro-choice and anti-abortion campaigners.

Last year, councillors supported a motion that called for the town hall to look at ‘every possible option, take all necessary action within its powers… to prevent anti-abortion protestors from intimidating and harassing women outside the Manchester abortion clinics'.

The motion said: “The council will do this to provide the necessary reassurance and security that all women need and deserve as they access healthcare and to defend the quality of life of those residents living nearby who pass the clinic on a regular basis.”

The Marie Stopes clinic in Fallowfield
The Marie Stopes clinic in Fallowfield

Next week’s equalities and communities resources committee will discuss the possibility of buffer zones, after a petition calling for a PSPO attracted 1,152 online signatures, as well as hundreds more off-line.

Petitions attracting more than 1,000 signatures trigger a debate in town hall scrutiny meetings.

Sister Supporter, the organisation that started the petition, has also worked with Ealing council - which was the first town hall in the country to bring in a buffer zone.

Since then, Richmond council in London has introduced a PSPO, although that decision is facing a legal challenge.

The petition sent to Manchester council calls for the public space outside abortion-providing clinics in the city to be ‘free from intimidation and harassment’, allowing those who wish to use the service to do so ‘without interference and judgement’.

Sister Supporter told the LDRS that the number of signatures shows that the 'the problem of clinic harassment is something people all over our city are fed up with'.

Pro-life demonstrators outside the Ealing Marie Stopes clinic
Pro-life demonstrators outside the Ealing Marie Stopes clinic

They said: “The problem has persisted for many years now, and is having a detrimental effect on the lives of those in the area.

"A PSPO would protect clinic users who are simply trying to access a legal healthcare service, staff members who are simply trying to do their jobs, and local people who are going about their day to day business."

"Nobody should have to put up with feeling upset, alarmed or distressed by the presence of anti-abortion protestors,” they said.

They argue that the groups use ‘deliberately disturbing and graphic images and models’ and said that ‘significant numbers’ of women report feeling intimidated and distressed.

Rober Colquhoun, international director at pro-life organisation 40 Days for Life, said: “We organise peaceful, prayerful and legal vigils outside abortion clinics and have done in Manchester for 10 years.

“In that time we haven’t had a single substantiated case of harassment anywhere in the UK."

"We believe in freedom of speech,” he added.