Exclusion zones to prevent protestors intimidating or harassing a person outside health care facility that provides pregnancy terminations, have received majority support from Galway City Councillors.
At Monday's city council meeting, Independent councillor Colette Connolly, put forward a motion, calling for legislation that would apply across the State, to make it illegal for protestors to interfere with or harass a person outside health care facilities when accessing or providing termination of pregnancy. The motion received cross-party support and was passed by majority vote.
Abortion Access Campaign West, a Galway based women’s collective advocating for free contraception and abortion services for women in the west, welcomes the decision taken at the meeting, and has publicly thanked Cllr Connolly for putting forward the motion. AACW has, for the past three months, been calling on city councillors to create such exclusion zones.
"Abortion is deeply private and personal," said AACW spokesperson Sarah Hoover. "Exclusion zones are necessary to ensure women are safe when seeking to access pregnancy terminations. No-one should be harassed, intimidated and caused further distress when accessing or providing these services."
The group has also published details of all Galway local election candidates’ attitudes on reproductive health issues on aacwest.wordpress.com
