(LifeNews) In the latest example of official intolerance towards pro-lifers, Richmond Council has voted to impose a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) around the BPAS abortion centre on Rosslyn Road, Twickenham.
Yesterday, the council unanimously ratified an earlier decision to implement the PSPO and so ban the peaceful pro-life prayer vigil primarily run by the Good Counsel Network.
Richmond is the second council after Ealing to use a PSPO (which replaced ASBOs) to prevent people praying and offering help to women outside an abortion clinic. Like at Ealing, concerns have been raised by Liberty and other organisations about the provisions of the order being too broad and too vague to render it proportionate. The PSPO makes it a criminal offence to make any offer of help to women on Rosslyn Road, and bans “directed” prayer and counselling.
