Latest news with #Tossici-Bolt
The Guardian
06-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
JD Vance may disagree, but this anti-abortion activist isn't a brutally censored dissident
You know the feeling: you're feeling sociable, why wouldn't you make a sign saying 'Here to talk, if you want to', and head for a spot outside the nearest abortion clinic? And why wouldn't some of its arriving patients want to pause before their appointments and satisfy your entirely innocent interest in their reproductive intentions? This, give or take, amounted to the case by the prominent anti-abortion campaigner, Livia Tossici-Bolt, who was on Friday found guilty of twice breaching a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO). Her sign-holding outside a Bournemouth abortion clinic was, she had argued, not covered by a council-imposed safe zone, being 'a mere invitation to speak'. And thus an invitation she could have happily extended to strangers just a little further from the clinic. But that did not suit Tossici-Bolt's purpose. Nor does anything prevent her from staging anti-abortion rallies, distributing literature, or expressing her views on abortion anywhere except right in abortion patients' faces outside clinics. These details, although similar regulations exist in parts of the US, routinely fail to surface in accounts by her prominent US supporters, with whose help Tossici-Bolt has been misrepresenting the illegal undermining of UK women's reproductive rights as a noble quest for free speech. Joining with JD Vance, and US anti-abortion pressure group Alliance Defending Freedom (whose UK arm supported her legal defence), a bureau within the US State Department generously took time away from domestic free speech crises to send a delegation to meet Tossici-Bolt. It then tweeted what was generally understood as menacing, that it was 'monitoring' her case. 'It is important that the UK respect and protect freedom of expression.' A similar admonition, tagging those twin objects of Trump's esteem, Putin and Viktor Orbán, is expected any time. Would the State Department also be 'monitoring' the protection from harassment of women seeking medical treatment, which is the right the UK government was finally, after increasing harassment outside abortion clinics, compelled to balance with anti-abortion campaigners' freedom to distress them? On the contrary. Pre-tariffs, the Telegraph attributed to some unnamed US imperialist the threatening statement 'no free trade without free speech', as if, such is current US hubris, British women can no longer expect their reproductive choices to escape Trump's patriarchal reach. After Tossici-Bolt, the addition of an abortion multiplier to the existing tariff formula cannot be ruled out. Nor, now a British district judge, Orla Austin, has brazenly put domestic law before clear US instructions, can the bombing of, if not all of Dorset, at least Poole's unruly magistrates court. She found Tossici-Bolt had breached a buffer zone, and was ordered to pay £20,026 in costs with a two-year conditional discharge. Generously, you might think, Austin said Tossici-Bolt 'lacked insight' into the impact of her actions. If so, the activist, who leads a local branch of 40 Days for Life, appears to have learned little from her years of protests, which include a failed legal challenge to the Bournemouth buffer zone and a submission against legal abortion in Northern Ireland. That general restrictions outside abortion clinics have, after years of disruption, finally been imposed is, of course, purely because of the distress increasingly inflicted on their clients by anti-abortion activists. In the absence of safe zones, patients have been tormented with anything from abuse, spitting and challenges, to foetus pictures and activists striking attitudes indicating 'silent prayer'. You might think, from outside the clinic-harassing community, that prayer location means little to an all-seeing God, but with a What3Words precision that might, if only theologians would investigate, account for unsatisfactory responses over thousands of years, experienced anti-abortion nuisances insist that these communications be transmitted on site. Maybe the signal is better there. Though in the case of the Bournemouth-based anti-abortion campaigner, Adam Smith-Connor, it was more convenience that dictated silent prayer outside a clinic (the one also haunted by Tossici-Bolt) quite unrelated to the northern provider where he regretted an abortion of 24 years ago. 'It is not practical for me to go to Leeds,' he told a court in 2022, 'so I go to a more local location to pray because my son lost his life within an abortion facility.' He received a two-year conditional discharge for breaching the PSPO with an order to pay £9,000 in costs. In this way, Smith-Connor has also converted himself, as is evidently the way forward for anti-abortion campaigners in predominantly abortion-tolerant societies, into the more promising role of brutally censored dissident, Bournemouth's answer to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 'Thank you VP Vance for defending western values & freedom. I salute you sir', Smith-Connor tweeted after Vance had surprised his audience at the Munich Security Conference with a speech that seemed better calculated to please anti-abortion fanatics. Maybe the ADF got one about the defence legacy of the cold war? By way of illustrating free speech in peril, Vance selected first, as the most shocking censorship, the fining of Bournemouth man Smith-Connor for breaching buffer zone regulations. Second, lurching into fiction, he claimed Scottish residents in buffer zones had received letters warning that 'even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law'. Not satisfied with this, Vance continued: 'Naturally, the government urged readers to report any fellow citizens suspected guilty of thought crime in Britain and across Europe.' Eh? You gathered that even if lying is wrong, it's less wrong than missing the chance, as in this speech, to urge foreign opponents of abortion, by reinventing the intimidation of women as freedom, to go for a US-style assault on reproductive rights. And sure enough, St Livia of the harmless placards has called her conviction a 'dark day for freedom'. And to the extent that it provokes the White House into further meddling with British women's rights, she might, appallingly, be right. Catherine Bennett is an Observer columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at
The Guardian
05-04-2025
- The Guardian
UK woman says she was not at abortion clinic ‘to express views' after conviction
A woman who was given a conditional discharge after being convicted of breaching a buffer zone outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth has claimed she was 'not there to express my views'. Livia Tossici-Bolt, an anti-abortion campaigner whose case has been cited by the US state department over 'freedom of expression' concerns in the UK, told the BBC's Today programme she was 'really disappointed' with the conviction 'because it's nothing to do with protesting' and said she would 'continue my fight for freedom of speech'. Tossici-Bolt had stood with a sign reading: 'Here to talk, if you want' facing the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) clinic, which was previously targeted by anti-abortion activists who had gathered nearby before Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council put the order in place. The campaigner went on trial at Poole magistrates court last month accused of breaching a public spaces protection order in March 2023 near a clinic in Bournemouth. On Friday she was found guilty of two charges of breaching the order. She was given a conditional discharge and ordered not to commit any additional offences over a two-year period. She was ordered to pay costs of £20,000 towards what the judge said had been the 'considerable' resources expended by the local authority, along with £26 towards a victim surcharge fee. Tossici-Bolt told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday: 'I was not there to express my views. I was there to offer free conversation, consensual conversation, to anyone who wanted to speak to me and not on the topics I want to speak. I was there to listen.' She added: 'I was there not to make any woman unhappy or distressed. I was there to speak to everyone in the community that wanted to have a conversation with me. 'Certainly, anyone could have approached me, including, if they wanted to, women accessing the clinic. It was up to them and I was there to listen to them, not to try and convince them at all. I was just there for everyone just to talk to me.' When asked if she was there to try to get the women to change their minds, she said: 'No, absolutely not.' Tossici-Bolt's lawyer, Jeremiah Igunnubole, said he and his team were 'exploring all legal options'. 'We need to look very closely at the legal decision made yesterday and also the prosecution costs of £20,000 that has been imposed on Livia,' Igunnubole told the Today programme. 'This is unprecedented circumstances; never before have we seen entirely peaceful conduct criminalised for nothing other than offering a consensual conversation.' A delegation from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), an office within the US Department of State, met Tossici-Bolt last month during a visit to the UK. They were accompanied by a US-backed anti-abortion group, which had been supporting her case. In a post on X hours after the conviction on Friday, the DRL said: 'We are disappointed with the UK court's conviction of Livia Tossici-Bolt for violating a designated 'buffer zone' at an abortion clinic. Freedom of expression must be protected for all.' After the verdict, the chief executive of BPAS, Heidi Stewart, said: 'The clinic in Bournemouth has been subjected to decades of anti-abortion protests which resulted in more than 500 reports of harassment before this local safe access zone was brought into force. 'This case was never about global politics but about the simple ability of women to access legal healthcare free from harassment.'
Telegraph
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
I am fighting for free speech, claims pro-life activist at heart of transatlantic row
A pro-life activist backed by the White House has said she is fighting for free speech. Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64, was convicted on Friday for protesting outside an abortion clinic by holding a sign that read: ' Here to talk if you want to.' The mother of three was handed a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £20,026 in costs after the 2023 protests in Bournemouth, Dorset. On Saturday, she told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: 'What I'm going to do [now]? There isn't much I can do, isn't it? 'I've been given this conditional discharge, and I will continue my fight for freedom of speech.' The dual UK-Italian citizen stood diagonally opposite a British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) clinic in Bournemouth, approximately 50 metres away, holding a sign on two consecutive days in March 2023. She refused requests to leave the area, claiming that she had not been given an adequate reason to do so, and declined to pay two fixed penalty notices issued by the council. Mrs Tossici-Bolt was convicted at Poole Magistrates Court on Friday of breaching a ban on protests in a protected buffer zone. Giving her verdict, District Judge Orla Austin said that Tossici-Bolt was not 'lawfully exercising' her rights of freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Mrs Tossici-Bolt told Today: 'It was purely inviting consensual conversation and I think in the public space, everybody can do that. And this, I don't think is detrimental. I think it is very beneficial for everyone.' She added: 'I was not there to express my views. That's the point. I was there to have a free conversation, consensual conversation, to anyone who wanted to speak to me, and not all the topics I want to speak. I was there to listen.' The prosecution gained global attention this week after the US State Department announced it was 'monitoring' her case, risking a diplomatic row with Britain.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Campaigner defiant over abortion clinic breach
A woman convicted of breaching an abortion clinic protection zone has said she will continue her "fight for free speech". Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64, was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £20,000 for two charges of breaking a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO). The anti-abortion campaigner held a sign reading "Here to talk, if you want" outside a clinic in Bournemouth on two days in March 2023. Her legal representative told the BBC Tossici-Bolt had been offering a "consensual conversation" and would explore "all legal options" following the ruling. The case has been highlighted by US Vice-President JD Vance and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour - a bureau within the US State Department. The bureau said it was "disappointed" by the ruling, in a post on X. "Freedom of expression must be protected for all," it added. Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, Tossici-Bolt said: "It was nothing to do with protesting, harassing or intimidating. It was inviting a conversation." She said her actions were "certainly not to make any woman unhappy or distressed". "Anyone could have approached me - including women attending the clinic. It was up to them," said Tossici-Bolt. "I was there to listen to them. Not that I was there to convince them or change minds or not." Asked what she would do next, she said: "I was given a conditional discharge. I will continue my fight for free speech." At Poole Magistrates' Court on Friday, District Judge Orla Austin said Tossici-Bolt's presence "could have a detrimental effect" on the women attending the clinic. The judge continued: "It's important to note this case is not about the rights and wrongs about abortion but about whether the defendant was in breach of the PSPO." The prosecution had been brought by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council for breach of a PSPO under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. The zone at Ophir Road came into force in October 2022, running from 07:00 to 19:00, Monday to Friday. Tossici-Bolt's legal counsel, Jeremiah Igunnubole, from the Alliance Defending Freedom, said they would "explore all legal options". He said the conviction and costs imposed were "unprecedented". "Never before have we seen entirely peaceful conduct being criminalised for nothing other than offering a consensual conversation," he said. Speaking earlier this week, former supreme court justice Lord Sumption said: "Women having an abortion - it's a very agonising decision and most people feel they are entitled to protection. "Anti-abortion campaigners can shout their views from the rooftops, broadcast or write in the press. "Freedom of speech is in no way inhibited, except they cannot stand outside abortion clinics so as to harass the women trying to get in." You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Woman guilty of abortion clinic safe zone breach Buffer zones set to come in around abortion clinics
BBC News
05-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
'Free speech' vow after abortion clinic safe zone breach
A woman convicted of breaching an abortion clinic protection zone has said she will continue her "fight for free speech".Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64, was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £20,000 for two charges of breaking a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO).The anti-abortion campaigner held a sign reading "Here to talk, if you want" outside a clinic in Bournemouth on two days in March legal representative told the BBC Tossici-Bolt had been offering a "consensual conversation" and would explore "all legal options" following the ruling. The case has been highlighted by US Vice-President JD Vance and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour - a bureau within the US State bureau said it was "disappointed" by the ruling, in a post on X. "Freedom of expression must be protected for all," it on Radio 4's Today programme, Tossici-Bolt said: "It was nothing to do with protesting, harassing or intimidating. It was inviting a conversation."She said her actions were "certainly not to make any woman unhappy or distressed"."Anyone could have approached me - including woman attending the clinic. It was up to them," said Tossici-Bolt."I was there to listen to them. Not that I was there to convince them or change minds or not."Asked what she would do next, she said: "I was given a conditional discharge. I will continue my fight for free speech."At Poole Magistrates' Court on Friday, District Judge Orla Austin said Tossici-Bolt's presence "could have a detrimental effect" on the women attending the judge continued: "It's important to note this case is not about the rights and wrongs about abortion but about whether the defendant was in breach of the PSPO." 'Unprecedented' The prosecution had been brought by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council for breach of a PSPO under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act zone at Ophir Road came into force in October 2022, running from 07:00 to 19:00, Monday to legal counsel, Jeremiah Igunnubole, from the Alliance Defending Freedom, said they would "explore all legal options".He said the conviction and costs imposed were "unprecedented"."Never before have we seen entirely peaceful conduct being criminalised for nothing other than offering a consensual conversation," he earlier this week, former supreme court justice Lord Sumption said: "Woman having an abortion - it's a very agonising decision and most people feel they are entitled to protection. "Anti-abortion campaigners can shout their views from the rooftops, broadcast or write in the press. "Freedom of speech is in no way inhibited, except they cannot stand outside abortion clinics so has to harass the women trying to get in." You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
