First Arrests in Coleraine over Abortion Clinic Buffer Zone
The first arrests in Northern Ireland in relation to the new buffer zones regulation around abortion clinics occurred on the morning of October 3. The individuals arrested were a Catholic man and woman. They were praying outside Causeway Hospital. The woman was praying on her knees with a rosary and they were holding pro-life signs. Officers told them to leave and when they refused they were arrested. They were later released on bail pending further enquiries. The issue was highlighted when a pro-choice activist posted a photo of the pair talking to a police officer on social media. A fellow activist who knew the pair said they had been coming to pray outside the hospital weekly after regulations permitting abortion were introduced in Northern Ireland in March 2020.
sources: News Letter, BBC, The Christian Institute
picture: Wiki Commons
UPDATE: Pro-life campaigner Claire Brennan was this week convicted of protesting in the safe access buffer zone at Coleraine Hospital in County Derry on 3rd October. She was fined £750 by Coleraine Magistrates’ Court. She became the first person to be arrested under the law in October 2023.
She was fined in December 2024 £300 for unlawful protest, and a further £450 for refusing to leave the buffer zone. She intends to lodge an appeal within 21 days: “If the appeal doesn’t go through then I will be bound by the court’s to pay the fine. I will not pay the fine and I will do up to one week in prison,” she said.
Source: Gript.ie