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@TriptychTwinsRidesAgain @Maud_Gonner @Chronic-Yonic @Funsizescot1975 @Flick https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7v3dlld58qo#:~:text=Protesters%20outside%20abortion%20clinics%2C%20standing,sometimes%20approached%20by%20these%20individuals.

It seems a well-co-ordinated and a thought-out operation - even down to the fact that those praying know to immediately direct me to talk to the two men on the gate. So we cross the road and do just that. Richard, who tells me he is here representing a Catholic charity which he says offers “the right sort of counselling to pregnant women”, has been coming to the centre for five weeks. I ask him if there are any circumstances in which he believes abortion is acceptable, and he tells me no. I challenge him on instances in which women have become pregnant as a result of rape. He says these abortions can lead to regret and that instead, “we need to weep with [the victim] and be empathetic”. Terminations can be traumatic, he tells me.

When I ask how he can know this as a man, he says there is research on the topic - though he doesn’t cite a specific paper. He says “you don’t need to be of a certain sex to know about the other sex”. I ask both men whether they can understand how some women would find their presence intimidating, unkind and un-Christian - especially if they have had difficult experiences with men. That is not a view they can reconcile with their own conviction that they are trying to save lives.

Ailish McEntee, the midwife in charge of safeguarding adults and children at MSI Reproductive Choices, one of the UK’s largest abortion providers, welcomes the buffer zones. She says she has had to calm some women down who have been spoken to or accosted by protesters on their way in for an appointment. “Women have had people screaming ‘murderer’ or shouting out ‘mummy’ and saying that they’re going to be praying for them and that is a really harrowing experience,” she tells me.

I challenge her about people’s right to free speech, protest and to be able to express their religious beliefs in this country. She acknowledges those rights are important but says the location of that expression also matters. She tells me women shouldn’t have to deal with protest, dissent, shaming or argument on the way to receive healthcare, especially when some of the women have faced abuse by men - as that is her particular area of expertise and care.

Ailish’s account conflicts with Richard’s. She says she has seen protesters stop women and strongly try to prevent them from going in.