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Ealing's abortion clinic protest ban upheld
Sam Tobin is at the High Court
Anti-abortion demonstrators outside the Marie Stopes clinic on Mattock Lane pictured in April

EALING Council’s ban on demonstrations directly outside an abortion clinic is lawful, the High Court ruled today.

The council was the first in the country to create a 100-metre protest-free “buffer zone” outside a Marie Stopes clinic, imposing a public spaces protection order (PSPO) in April after reports of “intimidation, harassment and distress.”

Campaigners Alina Dulgheriu and Andrea Orthova argued that the ban was an unlawful interference with the protesters' rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

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