A PETITION for a buffer zone around a Bournemouth abortion clinic has surpassed 2,000 signatures, after a last-minute rush of support from the community.

Community group Sister Supporter Bournemouth are campaigning for a buffer zone to end harassment outside the BPAS clinic on Ophir Road in Bournemouth.

Buffer zones are safe spaces outside abortion clinics, which ensure that those who wish to access their legal right to abortion healthcare can do so without interference or judgement.

Sister Supporter say the Bournemouth abortion clinic (run by BPAS) is one of the most targeted clinics in the country by anti-abortion groups.

In their petition, Sister Supporter are calling on BCP council to establish a buffer zone around the clinic to prevent further harassment. The petition currently has more than 2,200 signatures.

Jess, a spokesperson for Sister Supporter said: “I think for a lot of people and particularly the women who have faced the harassment at the clinic, it's been quite cathartic and there's this element of kind of vindication that there is a need for the buffer zone and that a lot of people are in agreement with that enough to engage with the petition and sign it.

“And it's not just the patients as well, it's the staff, local residents and other people who've been around that anti-abortion harassment and intimidation as well.

“So I think it's been a feeling of a big win, especially with everything else that's going on in the world. This has been quite a tonic for that.”

Jess says the overturning of Roe V Wade in America has encouraged people to engage with the petition.

She said: “ I think people are angry about the issues in America and they're looking for ways that they can kind of help abortion rights and that's still very necessary in the UK.

“Although abortion is accessible and free and legal in this country, you can still be criminalized if you don't go to a clinic and go through the proper medical channels.

“I think people aren't aware of this and with the anti-abortion harassment as well, it's made everyone realize that it's happening in the UK.

“Although obviously everything that's happening in America is horrible, absolutely devastating and dystopian, it has brought it into the fore of everyone's minds and I think it has helped.”

Jess says staff and women accessing the Bournemouth clinic face harassment on a regular basis: “At the moment you've got anti-abortion groups that will be directly outside the clinic, right outside the premises, so you have to go past them to get into the clinic and they have a very intimidating presence.

“In the past they referred to patients and staff, as murderers and they hand out leaflets that overstate the risks of abortion and contain medical misinformation. So having a buffer zone would hopefully create a radius of about 150 metres around the clinic.

“It's not stopping them from holding vigils or holding protests or whatever they want to call it. It's just moving them away so that women can go to the clinic with the privacy and the dignity that they deserve.”

Speaking about whether the petition will be taken to full council, Jess said: “We haven't had it confirmed yet, so we have emailed democratic services and requested that now our petition has hit the target of 2000 signatures, that it be referred for debate at the full council meeting. Our hope is we will be presenting it at the meeting on July 12.”