Woman who held 'here to talk' sign at abortion clinic guilty of buffer zone breach

An anti-abortion campaigner has been found guilty of breaching an abortion clinic buffer zone in Bournemouth, in a trial being monitored” by Trump officials.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64, was accused of breaching a Public Spaces Protection Order outside the Dorset clinic on two days in March 2023 by holding a sign saying: “Here to talk, if you want.”

Senior US officials took the extraordinary step of weighing into a row over her prosecution, warning: “We are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom.”

A bureau within the US Department of State said it was closely monitoring the case and reports claimed the issue had even entered UK and US trade negotiations, although business secretary Jonathan Reynolds insisted that free speech had not been part of tariff negotiations with the US.

Yesterday, she was convicted at Poole Magistrates’ Court of two charges of breaching the protection order and sentenced to a conditional discharge for two years. She was ordered to pay £20,000 towards court costs and a £26 victim surcharge.

District Judge Orla Austin said that Tossici-Bolt had “deeply held” beliefs but her rights of freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights had to be balanced against the rights of the women attending the clinic and its staff.

She said: “I accept that the defendant engaged in the conduct underlying this case as part of a sincerely motivated desire to attend that location and display her signage outside the clinic, encouraging conversation in relation to matters of particular importance to her.

“This does not mean that her conviction for failing to leave the area when required would be disproportionate, nor give rise to a reasonable excuse on the facts of this case.”

She added that the defendant “lacks insight that her presence could have a detrimental effect on the women attending the clinic, their associates, staff and members of the public”.