MORE than 4,000 people have supported a petition calling for a buffer zone outside a Bournemouth abortion clinic.

As reported, the petition will be discussed at a BCP Council meeting next week.

And Sister Supporter, the group behind the petition, encouraged the council to “use their powers to protect people”.

READ MORE: Council to address petition for abortion clinic buffer zone

Jess Bone, campaigner at Sister Supporter, said: “The success of our petition proves just how much public support there is for a buffer zone in Bournemouth.

“Healthcare is a human right and clinic users deserve to access that right in peace, free from the kind of vicious harassment we see every week outside the Ophir Road abortion clinic.

“We are delighted that the council will now seriously consider creating the buffer zone, and we encourage them to use their powers to protect local people. Twenty years is far too long for this harassment to have gone unchecked.”

In May, abortion rights group Sister Supporter Bournemouth launched a public petition calling on BCP Council to set up a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) around Bournemouth’s BPAS Clinic on Ophir Road.

Councillor Millie Earl, deputy leader of the BCP Liberal Democrat group, said: “I’ve been out campaigning with Sister Supporter for the last couple of months collecting signatures for the petition and I’m so pleased that this topic will finally come to Full Council for debate as it’s long overdue.

“As a resolution to the debate, I’m hoping my colleagues from across the chamber will agree that BCP Council has a duty to stop intimidation and harassment of women accessing legal abortion services and will support my motion for this to move to consultation.

“It’s vital that BCP Council recognise the impact of the harassment women and staff experience at the clinic. Everyone has a right to protest, but that needs to be balanced with the right of women and pregnant people to choose and to obtain advice and treatment in confidence and free from intimidation.”

The petition received more than 4,000 signatures from people living or working in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, and is now scheduled to be debated at a full council meeting on Tuesday, July 12.

It closed on Monday June 27, but Sister Supporter Bournemouth is now encouraging local people to email their councillor in support of the buffer zone.