Convicted anti-abortion campaigner ‘inviting consensual conversation’

An anti-abortion campaigner who was convicted of breaching a public spaces protection order outside an abortion clinic has claimed she was “inviting consensual conversation”, as her lawyer said he and his team were “exploring all legal options”.

Livia Tossici-Bolt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she was “not there to make any woman unhappy”.

The 64-year-old was handed a two-year conditional discharge at Poole Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

The case involved Tossici-Bolt, a retired medical scientist from Bournemouth, holding a sign saying “Here to talk, if you want” on two days in March 2023.

Speaking about her conviction, she said: “I was really disappointed because it’s nothing to do with protesting.

“It was purely inviting consensual conversation and I think in a public space everybody can do that.

“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.

“I was interested to listen to people and I think everyone should be allowed that.”

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, to change (their) mind or not. I was just there for everyone just to talk to me.”

As well as the conditional discharge, District Judge Orla Austin ordered Tossici-Bolt to pay £20,000 towards court costs and a £26 victim surcharge.

Tossici-Bolt’s lawyer Jeremiah Igunnubole said his client’s case was “unprecedented”.

He told the Today programme: “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.

“This is unprecedented circumstances, never before have we seen entirely peaceful conduct criminalised for nothing other than offering a consensual conversation.

“It’s the first time in modern British history that this happened.

“So, we, of course, have to go through the judgment and explore all our legal options.”

On Friday, a US government department criticised the decision to convict Tossici-Bolt.

In a statement on X, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labour (DRL), a bureau within the US Department of State 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.”

Mr Igunnubole said the US state department was “quite right”.

He added: “What I am disappointed with is the fact that no United Kingdom politician, or at least leader of any of the major parties, has also made similar comments to raise their concerns about the state of freedom of speech.”

The council-enacted buffer zone, which came into effect in 2022 and covers 10 streets, is aimed at protecting patients and staff from harassment and distress while accessing the clinic.

Sentencing her on Friday, District Judge Austin said that Tossici-Bolt had “deeply-held” beliefs but her rights of freedom of expression under article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) had to be balanced against the rights of the women attending the clinic and its staff.

She said: “I accept that the defendant engaged in the conduct underlying this case as part of a sincerely motivated desire to attend that location and display her signage outside the clinic, encouraging conversation in relation to matters of particular importance to her.

“This does not mean that her conviction for failing to leave the area when required would be disproportionate, nor give rise to a reasonable excuse on the facts of this case.”

Asked what happens next, Tossici-Bolt said: “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 British Pregnancy Advisory Service said the case was “never about global politics” but instead women being able to “access legal healthcare free from harassment”.