Would it be feasible for European Union countries to implement Safe Access Zones for premises providing abortion services?

Abstract

Anti-abortion protestors situated near premises providing abortion services create barriers and hurdles to accessing abortion services, which violates the right of pregnant people to seek sexual and reproductive health services. There has been shown to be a need for Safe Access Zones (SAZs) to guarantee physical access to abortion services without obstruction. SAZs usually operate within a prescribed radius around premises providing abortion services and set out what behaviour is prohibited. The objective of this paper is to present a summary of the international experience of introducing and implementing SAZ laws, and to explain the lessons to be learned from this experience. SAZ legislation has been successfully enacted internationally in 22 jurisdictions (USA excluded). Countries with SAZ laws include Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and parts of Canada. Despite the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe calling for the introduction of SAZs in 2022, only two European Union (EU) countries have implemented this recommendation so far. On the basis of the medical and legal insights gained from the functioning of SAZs to date, it is the authors’ opinion that it would be feasible for the 25 EU countries that do not yet have such zones to legislate for SAZs.