PEOPLE in Ealing are to be consulted about a potential buffer area around the Marie Stopes clinic in Mattock Lane.

Ealing Council cabinet members this week considered 11 options for addressing issues outside the clinic.

They included altering patient arrivals, using bye-laws and a Public Spaces Protection Order.

A PSPO would stop people in Mattock Lane from approaching or monitoring women using the abortion clinic, congregating in large groups, displaying distressing images and using amplifiers. 

Attempts to negotiate an informal agreement have proved unsuccessful, according to officers, and a PSPO is seen as the most appropriate measure. 

Council leader Julian Bell said: “[Our] investigation has found behaviour around the Mattock Lane clinic that represents unacceptable harassment and intimidation of women seeking a legal medical procedure.

“Given the evidence, the council has a duty to act to end this kind of behaviour and a PSPO is likely to be the most effective tool at our disposal.

“However, since Ealing first raised this issue it has become clear that behaviour of this kind is happening at clinics across the country.

“We need ministers to come forward with a national solution to this problem, giving councils and police appropriate powers to prevent intimidation and distress.”

Richard Bentley, managing director of Marie Stopes UK, said: “We welcome the continued leadership shown by Ealing Council as it works to end the harassment of women using legal healthcare services.

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“We know a number of local authorities are watching this process closely, while others, including Birmingham and Portsmouth, are actively exploring how to increase protection for women in their areas. The Home Office is also looking at the issue from a national perspective.

“The groups that stand outside our Ealing clinic have openly stated they don’t view their activities as protest, and we agree. It’s harassment.

“These groups have confirmed they have no medical training and no formal counselling accreditation.

“There is no justification for their stationing themselves at clinic doors, approaching women they know nothing about and attempting to involve themselves in one of the most personal decisions a woman can make.

“The majority of women who arrive at our clinics have already had a consultation with a trained healthcare professional, in which they have talked through their options and have come to a decision that’s right for them.

"Strangers harassing them as they enter and leave the clinic does nothing to change that. All it does is upset women on what can already be a difficult day.”

The public consultation into a potential PSPO will last eight weeks, starting Monday, January 29, and until Monday, March 26.

The consultation will be live at www.ealing.gov.uk/safezone