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, however 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 Public Spaces Protection Order on two days in March 2023.
District Judge Orla Austin told the court 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”.
She added: “I accept her beliefs were truly held beliefs. Although it’s accepted this defendant held pro-life views, it’s important to note this case is not about the rights and wrongs about abortion but about whether the defendant was in breach of the PSPO (Public Spaces Protection Order).”
A trial last month heard how the campaigner was charged with infringing the public spaces protection order around the clinic. She was issued a fixed penalty notice but refused to pay it, 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.
However 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 is tragic to see that the increase of censorship in this country has made the US feel it has to remind us of our shared values and basic civil liberties.
“I’m grateful to the US administration for prioritising the preservation and promotion of freedom of expression and for engaging in robust diplomacy to that end.
“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.
“It is important that the government actually does respect freedom of expression, as it claims to.”
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.
“But we deeply regret that our own politicians’ instinct is to censor speech and even prayers they object to. We hope this story and Livia’s shocking prosecution instigate a return to valuing free speech in Great Britain.”
More follows on this breaking news story…
