A British woman was found guilty Friday of breaching a buffer zone outside a UK abortion clinic, in a case that attracted concern from the Trump administration over “freedom of expression” in the country.
Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64, from Bournemouth, a town on the southern English coast, was convicted of two charges of breaching the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), legislation prohibiting protests near abortion services, on two days in March 2023.
Tossici-Bolt, an anti-abortion campaigner and retired medical scientist, held a sign outside a Bournemouth abortion clinic reading, “Here to talk, if you want.”
District judge Orla Austin told Poole Magistrates’ Court that Tossici-Bolt “lacks insight that her presence could have a detrimental effect on the women attending the clinic, their associates, staff and members of the public,” British news agency PA Media reported.
The judge added that “although it’s accepted this defendant held pro-life views, it’s important to note this case is not about the rights and wrongs about abortion but about whether the defendant was in breach of the PSPO (Public Spaces Protection Order).”
Tossici-Bolt’s case attracted attention from the US State Department at a time when Washington has voiced concerns over free speech in the UK and other European countries.
“U.S.-UK relations share a mutual respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. However, as Vice President Vance has said, we are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom,” America’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labour (DRL), a bureau of the US State Department, wrote on X on Sunday, ahead of the ruling.
The DRL added that one of its advisers had met with Tossici-Bolt, and that it was “monitoring” her case.
US Vice-President JD Vance has previously criticized UK policies including safe access zones around abortion clinics, saying they restrict freedom of speech. During a speech at the Munich Security Conference in February, Vance cited the example of a man arrested for praying near an abortion clinic.
“In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat,” he told the conference.
The UK government has pushed back at Vance’s suggestion, denying that the issue could jeopardize efforts to strike a trade deal with an administration that has imposed sweeping tariffs.
“The (prime minister) has been clear, including during his visit to the White House … that the UK has had free speech in this country for a long time and we are proud of that,” UK PM Keir Starmer’s spokesperson, Jonathan Reynolds, said on Tuesday.
Britian introduced safe access buffer zones around abortion clinics in the UK on October 31. The law applies within a 150-meter radius of the abortion service provider.
“The right to access abortion services is a fundamental right for women in this country, and no one should feel unsafe when they seek to access this,” the UK’s safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, said at the time.