The pro-lifer whose protest in Bournemouth triggered free speech row with Trump

Telegraph

31-03-2025

When a 64-year-old pro-life campaigner stood outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth holding a sign saying 'Here to talk if you want to', she hardly imagined her silent protest would inflame a global free speech row that threatens to jeopardise Britain's so-called special relationship with the US.
Livia Tossici-Bolt, a retired medical scientist, was charged with a public order offence for allegedly breaching a protected buffer zone outside the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) facility on two consecutive days in March 2023.
Now, days before she is expected to receive a verdict on Friday, she has found herself the subject of an extraordinary intervention by US government officials after a state department bureau announced on Sunday that it was 'monitoring' her case.
In a statement issued on X, the US bureau of democracy, human rights and labour said: 'We are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom… We are monitoring [Ms Tossici-Bolt's] case.'
The move marks an escalation between Donald Trump 's administration and British politicians over the UK's commitment to free expression.
In recent months, the row has increasingly focused on the right to protest outside abortion clinics.
'Buffer zone' legislation in the UK that bans protest outside clinics has been backed by all major political parties.
But in America, where 12 states now prohibit abortion in almost all circumstances, the issue is much more divisive.
In February, JD Vance, the US vice-president, used his speech at the Munich Security Conference to criticise British authorities' prosecution of another activist, Adam Smith-Connor, 51, for a similar protest outside the same Bournemouth clinic in 2022.
Mr Vance said the case of the British Army Reserves veteran showed that the 'basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular' were under threat.
Mr Smith-Connor denied committing an offence, but in October last year a judge found his actions had been 'deliberate'.
He had claimed that he had the right to silently pray for an unborn son whom he now regrets aborting and that prosecuting him amounted to 'criminalising someone's beliefs'.
He was handed a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 costs.
Like Mr Smith-Connor, Ms Tossici-Bolt is also being prosecuted under a public spaces protection order (PSPO), legislation that restricts anti-social behaviour in a specific area.
Last October, Sir Keir Starmer's government replaced these local powers with national restrictions making it a criminal offence to attempt to 'influence a person's decision to access or provide abortion services within 150 metres of a clinic' in England and Wales.
The new 'safe access zones' law does not automatically ban silent prayer outside abortion clinics, but Crown Prosecution Service guidance states there is no defence on religious grounds under the statute, meaning that holding a vigil or praying, including silent prayer, could be considered a violation.
Ms Tossici-Bolt, leader of the Bournemouth branch of the anti-abortion charity 40 Days of Life, has always denied the charges against her and claimed she was 'just there to offer support' to women seeking an abortion.
In March, Poole magistrates' court heard that she stood outside the BPAS clinic in Bournemouth for around two hours on two consecutive days in March 2023, holding up her sign.
She was approached by police and a local council official who told her that one person had felt harassed by Ms Tossici-Bolt's protest.
The court heard that Ms Tossici-Bolt refused to vacate the area, despite being repeatedly asked to leave.
She claims she was given no legitimate reason to leave and told magistrates that she did not 'see how someone standing there can be seen as harassment and intimidation'.
'My signs are solidarity signs. I am just there to offer support. I rejoice when a life is saved. People can say yes or no when they see me,' she said.
'I always made sure I did not come across as aggressive. I always try and do it in a loving way. I never tell people to terminate. If they decide to go ahead with the abortion then we can offer support afterwards,' she added.
Ms Tossici-Bolt said she had been standing diagonally opposite the Bournemouth clinic, about 50 metres away, for just under two hours on March 2 when a police officer approached her to report that someone had complained about her presence.
She said: 'I asked him how this could possibly happen. I don't see how someone standing there can be seen as harassment and intimidation.
'I don't see the problem with people seeing me. It would have been lovely if the officer had gone to the person and asked me why I was harassing them. I was being completely passive.'
She added that she 'would have left if they had given me a reason but they could not provide one'.
'I was sure that I was not in breach,' she said. 'I still maintain that.'
After hearing all the evidence, District Judge Orla Austin adjourned the case and will deliver her verdict on April 4.