IIn the 17 years I’ve worked in an abortion clinic, I’ve gotten used to being called a murderer and told I have blood on my hands. But I’ll never get used to women and girls in tears because of the harassment they’ve experienced. This harassment by anti-abortion groups has been on the rise for years, but has escalated since Roe v Wade was overturned in the US in 2022. Clinicians like me have the unenviable task of protecting people accessing healthcare from graphic images, and protecting our team members from being spat at when they come to work.
Last year it seemed that an end was finally in sight. Labour MP Stella Creasy had previously tabled an amendment to introduce safe access zones around all abortion clinics in England and Wales, which was subsequently signed into law in 2023. These would create a 150-metre buffer around clinics like the one where I work in south London, to prevent the harassment we now see on a daily basis. The relief was unimaginable.
I was so relieved when I heard the news. MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes International), the organisation I work for, has another clinic in West London that already has one of these zones. Years ago I had heard stories about how bad the anti-abortion bullying was there, with staff having to find innovative routes to get to work and patients having to enter the clinic through a side door. In 2018 the council decided to intervene. After an overwhelming amount of evidence was gathered, the first local buffer was put in place around the clinic.
The signing of the legislation last year marked a turning point, where this right – to have an abortion with dignity and privacy – would be open to everyone, not just people in Ealing. Unfortunately, these zones had still not been implemented by the Home Office when the election was called. Now that there is a new Home Secretary (who has voted for safe access zones), we hope that the recent letter led by a coalition of us will trigger action. There are at least 16 other abortion clinics in England and Wales, including ours, that continue to face ongoing harassment in the meantime.
Anti-abortion groups seem to see this delay as a green light. They have stepped up their tactics, following people down the street as they leave us, sometimes filming them or taking photos. Every day I anxiously look out the window from my desk to see if they have arrived. I see women harassed by strangers, handed leaflets full of medical misinformation, called “mom” – and sometimes even physically denied entry.
I’ve lost count of the times I’ve comforted people who were in tears or physically shaking. There’s still so much stigma surrounding abortion, and anti-abortion groups do everything they can to guilt and shame women into feeling. No one deserves that. These groups don’t know the circumstances under which someone came to the clinic. Every decision a woman makes about her own body is an intensely personal decision, and by the time they get to us, they’ve already made up their minds.
Harassment deters women: Patients often tell us that they have delayed treatment because they fear the hostile presence outside. Waiting longer can mean fewer treatment options. But rather than appealing to their humanity, this is often seen as a victory by the protesters – who sometimes claim these obstacles as a victory and a justification for their actions. We know that the women will simply return for their treatment another day, only probably further down the street, and more shaken.
Installing the protective barrier outside MSI Reproductive Choices’ Ealing clinic was like going from night to day. Without the constant presence of protesters holding rosaries and plastic foetuses and handing out leaflets urging women not to have abortions, everyone could go about their day. They didn’t have to endure an onslaught of abuse. The zone has been in place for six years and our team in Ealing can’t imagine life without it.
It is time to end this postcode lottery. For years we have been advocating for national legislation so that everyone who needs abortion care has the same protection from abuse, wherever they are. One in three women will need or choose an abortion in their lifetime. It is essential health care. And it is time it is treated as such.
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Michaela McDaid works at an MSI Reproductive Choices abortion clinic in South London
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