Trigger Warning: There are details in this post of what goes on outside of the clinic that some people may find upsetting.
On Monday I spoke with Rachael Clarke, Public Affairs and Advocacy Manager for BPAS. She works with their clinics to try and mitigate the impact of protesters, and also works with a lot of local politicians to try and use the powers that they already have or bring in new powers to try and stop the anti-choice advocates from protesting outside of their clinics.
Rachael has been working with this clinic since she started working for BPAS two years ago. Harassment there has been particularly concerted since 2014, when the American group 40 Days for Life started coming over to the UK and essentially starting franchise operations. If there is a local church group who wanted to do some anti-abortion activity, they could buy into the organisational structure, paying a fee and receiving things like hoodies, candles and signs. Rachael tells me this really kicked off the wider presence in Bournemouth. Although not all groups are affiliated with 40 Days for Life, Rachael says it has “buoyed the spirit of the other people, who previously may have been a bit more sporadic and less concerted.”
There are a few different groups that regularly stand outside the clinic. Some pray rather loudly and sing. When they see people coming to the clinic, they increase their volume. And they increase their volume to the point that they can be heard inside the waiting room. There is a particular group who are what Rachael describes as “a lot more intense and aggressive."
They stand right outside the clinic; they approach women and they will continue following them. Others leave Catholic trinkets on car window screens. Rachael tells me “we’ve have had a couple of reports of them telling women they’re throwing their baby away and putting their babies in a meat grinder and that’s completely unacceptable.”
More of what Rachael told me during our chat will be available in the audio documentary once complete and I’ll be sharing clips in the coming weeks on my Twitter, so stay tuned.
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