UK woman persuaded against abortion challenging ‘buffer zone’ around abortion clinic

A woman in the UK who was persuaded against having an abortion is challenging a zoning law that prevents pro-lifers from speaking to women entering an abortion clinic. Londoner Alina Dulgheriu was persuaded not to abort her own daughter outside the same abortion clinic in 2011, the Daily Caller reported Friday. Some of the “offensive” activity around the abortion clinic included the display of “graphic images” of babies in the womb and referring to women entering the clinic as “mothers.”

Dulghereiu’s daughter is now seven years old. She told the Catholic News Agency that “before I was approached outside of the clinic, I felt as though I had no choice but to have an abortion.”

On July 2, the High Court of England and Wales upheld a “buffer zone” around the same abortion clinic where Dulgheriu decided not to have her planned abortion, preventing “any pro-life gathering or speech, including prayer, within 100 meters of the clinic,” Catholic News Agency reported.

“I cannot believe that the Council has taken away a choice from women that has the potential to change their lives for the better,” Dulgheriu, who is filing the challenge with another anonymous woman, told CNA. “I hope that I will be in a position to appeal the decision because I cannot imagine a society where offering to help a woman is seen as a criminal offense.”

ADF International spokesman Ryan Day said the buffer zone “sets a very dangerous precedent, where a council is able to prevent genuine offers of assistance to pregnant women on the basis that the people who offer it are pro-life.”

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