The Australian High Court has upheld laws in Victoria and Tasmania prohibiting communication about abortion within 150 metres of health and fertility clinics.
Two anti-abortion protesters in Victoria and Tasmania sought to overturn convictions for protesting against abortions within the “safe access zones” outside clinics. Prohibited behaviour inside safe zones includes harassment and intimidation, communicating in a way that is reasonably likely to cause distress or anxiety, and filming without consent.
Kathleen Clubb was fined $5000 in Victoria after attempting to hand a couple leaflets offering counselling, while John Preston was convicted of three breaches in Tasmania in 2014 and 2015, including for holding a placard. Both appellants argued that the laws impinged on their right to freedom of communication on political matters as implied by the Constitution.
The High Court split on whether abortions are to be deemed ‘political’ but unanimously dismissed the appeals. The Court conceded that there was no evidence that political protest against terminations outside the access zones was less effective, therefore the impediment on political freedom was negligible.
The Court held that the protective measures were enacted following years of harassment of persons entering such clinics and the law served the legitimate purpose of protecting the "the safety, well-being, privacy and dignity of persons accessing lawful medical services". The safe access zones served merely to restrict protest in the presence of an audience of pregnant women seeking terminations and, according to the Court, “the implied freedom is not a guarantee of an audience; a fortiori, it is not an entitlement to force a message on an audience held captive to that message”.
Click here for the decision in Clubb v Edwards and Preston v Avery.