30th October 2025: One year on from the implementation of safe access zones around all clinics and hospitals offering abortion services in England and Wales, leading abortion provider, MSI Reproductive Choices, is calling on MPs to remain strong amidst increased activity from anti-abortion groups.
For years, abortion clinics across the UK were targeted by anti-choice groups and had no way of protecting themselves from harassment.
When safe access zones for England and Wales were implemented on 31st October 2024, they created a 150-metre boundary around clinics that prevented groups from being able to intimidate anyone as they enter. Similar protections have also been introduced in Scotland and Northern Ireland. With recent research from Amnesty International UK revealing that anti-abortion groups have increased their spending in the UK by 34% from 2019 to 2023, MSI is calling on MPs to continue driving progress on reproductive rights to prevent a similar rollback in rights that other countries, including the US, are currently experiencing.
Louise McCudden, UK head of external affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices, commented:
“Safe access zones prevent anti-abortion activists from harassing women directly outside clinics and from obstructing their medical care. The zones mean women aren’t forced to engage with them during what can already be a difficult time.
“With anti-abortion harassment escalating in recent years, safe access zones couldn’t have come at a more critical time. Anti-abortion views are wildly out of step with public opinion but anti-choice campaigners are now spending millions of pounds on spreading this agenda in the UK. And whilst they can no longer do so on the doorstep of an abortion clinic, they will keep spreading false information, especially online. They will keep spending money that pro-choice groups simply do not have.
“While we can’t be complacent, we also shouldn’t be defeatist. MPs from all major parties voted to improve our Victorian abortion laws earlier this year. Actions like these make a huge difference in demonstrating that there is support amongst our politicians for reproductive rights in this country. But now we need to remain firm against anyone that works to rollback our hard-won rights.”
Before safe access zones were introduced, one woman who came to MSI for an abortion shared her experience:
“The hardest part was walking past the protesters. No one has the right to tell you what to do with your body and it bothered me that without even knowing my situation or how horrible I felt, they were trying to.”
When Roe v Wade was overturned in the United States in the summer of 2022 and the constitutional right to an abortion was removed from millions of US women overnight, clinics across the UK witnessed more aggressive tactics from anti-abortion groups that were emboldened by this decision.
Michaela McDaid, operations services manager at MSI’s Brixton clinic, spoke of this time:
“After Roe v Wade was reversed, we were facing daily attacks from anti-abortion groups. People were regularly coming into the clinic crying and absolutely distraught from facing harassment from them. These groups don’t know the circumstances that have led someone to come to the clinic and they do everything they can to impose feelings of guilt and shame on women. No one deserves that.
“I faced horrific abuse myself. They’ve followed me down the street, called me a murderer and even spat at me as I’ve come into work. Now it has all stopped. We’re able to provide abortion care like any other healthcare provider and we haven’t had a single issue with anti-choice groups since the law came into force. Working in the clinic now compared to a year ago is like going from night to day. We’re so grateful for everyone that campaigned for and supported this law change. The zone around our clinic has been truly transformative.”
– Ends -
Notes to Editors
For further information or interviews with MSI spokespeople please contact:
Name: Kylie Harrison and Grace Dunne
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 07769 166 516
Or visit our website at: www.msichoices.org.uk
About MSI Reproductive Choices
MSI Reproductive Choices is one of the UK’s leading providers of safe abortion and vasectomy. We believe that everyone should have the right to make choices about their own body and future. Team members throughout our network of more than 60 clinics and confidential helpline, provide high quality, compassionate care to women and men, when and where they need them.
