An anti-abortion campaigner has been found guilty of breaching an abortion clinic buffer zone in Bournemouth in a trial being “monitored” by Trump officials.
Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64, was accused of breaching a Public Spaces Protection Order outside the Dorset clinic on two days in March 2023 by holding a sign saying: “Here to talk, if you want.”
Senior US officials took the extraordinary step of weighing in to a row over her prosecution, warning: “We are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom.”
A bureau within the US Department of State said it was closely monitoring the case and reports claimed the issue had even entered UK and US trade negotiations, although business secretary Jonathan Reynolds insisted that free speech had not been part of tariff negotiations with the US.
On Friday she was convicted at Poole Magistrates’ Court of two charges of breaching the protection order and sentenced to a conditional discharge for two years. She was ordered to pay £20,000 towards court costs and a £26 victim surcharge.
District Judge Orla Austin said that Tossici-Bolt had “deeply held” beliefs but her rights of freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) had to be balanced against the rights of the women attending the clinic and its staff.
She said: “I accept that the defendant engaged in the conduct underlying this case as part of a sincerely motivated desire to attend that location and display her signage outside the clinic, encouraging conversation in relation to matters of particular importance to her.
“This does not mean that her conviction for failing to leave the area when required would be disproportionate, nor give rise to a reasonable excuse on the facts of this case.”
She added the defendant “lacks insight that her presence could have a detrimental effect on the women attending the clinic, their associates, staff and members of the public”.
Rosalind Comyn, defending, said there was no evidence that Tossici-Bolt was observed by any service user or any harm was caused by her behaviour.
After the hearing, Tossici-Bolt claimed it was “a dark day for Great Britain” and vowed to continue fighting for freedom of speech.
“I was not protesting and did not harass or obstruct anyone,” she said. “All I did was offer consensual conversation in a public place, as is my basic right, and yet the court found me guilty.
“Freedom of expression is in a state of crisis in the UK. What has happened to this country?
“The US State Department was right to be concerned by this case as it has serious implications for the entire Western world.”
However, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas) said the case was “never about global politics” but instead women being able to access legal healthcare without harassment.
Bpas’s chief executive, Heidi Stewart, said: “The clinic in Bournemouth has been subjected to decades of anti-abortion protests, which resulted in more than 500 reports of harassment before this local safe access zone was brought into force.
“This case was never about global politics but about the simple ability of women to access legal healthcare free from harassment.
“It is up to the police and judicial system to determine whether individuals have broken the law.”
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council, which brought the prosecution under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, welcomed the conviction. A spokesperson said that the buffer zone was enacted in 2022 so patients and staff can access the clinic “without fear of intimidation”.
A trial last month heard the campaigner refused to pay a fixed penalty notice after she was charged with infringing the protection order, claiming she was entitled to offer consensual conversations under the Human Rights Act.
In a statement posted on X this week, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, & Labour (DRL) said: “US-UK relations share a mutual respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
“However, as Vice President Vance has said, we are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom.
“While recently in the UK, DRL senior adviser Sam Samson met with Livia Tossici-Bolt, who faces criminal charges for offering conversation within a legally prohibited ‘buffer zone’ at an abortion clinic.
“We are monitoring her case. It is important that the UK respect and protect freedom of expression.”
Lord Sumption, a former top judge in the UK’s Supreme Court, accused the Trump administration of “unjustifiable interference” over the comments.
Tossici-Bolt welcomed the US intervention and claimed her prosecution was an “extreme example” of censorship, adding: “Great Britain is supposed to be a free country, yet I’ve been dragged through court merely for offering consensual conversation. I’m thankful to ADF International for supporting my legal defence.
“Peaceful expression is a fundamental right – no-one should be criminalised for harmless offers to converse.”
The pro-life campaigner added: “It deeply saddens me that the UK is seen as an international embarrassment when it comes to free speech.
“My case, involving only a mere invitation to speak, is but one example of the extreme and undeniable state of censorship in Great Britain today.”
Lorcan Price, legal counsel for freedom of speech campaign group ADF International, which is supporting Tossici-Bolt, said: “We are used to seeing this kind of diplomacy happen with countries that have authoritarian and dictatorial regimes. It is sobering to realise the censorship crisis in the UK has become so extreme that it is now necessary here too.
“Livia’s criminal prosecution for merely offering consensual conversation highlights in a particular way that free speech is now becoming a major point of contention between the US and UK.
“If the UK continues to abandon free speech, it’s now clear there will be no ‘special relationship’. We are grateful to the US for engaging in diplomacy to promote the fundamental right of freedom of expression in this country.”
