Anti-abortion campaigner convicted of breaching buffer zone outside UK clinic

An activist whose case had prompted concern by the US state department over “freedom of expression” in the UK has been convicted of breaching a buffer zone outside an abortion clinic.

Livia Tossici-Bolt, an anti-abortion campaigner, had gone on trial at Poole magistrates court last month accused of breaching a public spaces protection order on two days in March 2023 near to a clinic in Bournemouth.

A delegation from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, an office within the US Department of State, met her last month during a visit to the UK, along with a US-backed anti-abortion group, which has been supporting her case.