The municipality of Utrecht does not agree that a judge recently ruled in favor of protesters against abortion and is therefore appealing. The activists wanted to protest at an abortion clinic in Utrecht, but the municipality assigned them a place a little further away. The group went to court. It determined that the municipality had not properly substantiated why the protesters were not allowed to stand at the abortion clinic.
Utrecht mayor Sharon Dijksma says that demonstrations at abortion clinics cannot be compared with other protests. “Women who visit an abortion clinic for treatment are at a defining point in their lives. It is a very drastic and emotionally charged decision that can burden someone psychologically. That situation is vulnerable and affects the core of privacy. That is why Visitors to abortion clinics deserve extra protection.”
The judge’s ruling concerns a demonstration that Jesus Lives wanted to hold on Liberation Day last year at the Vrelinghuis on the Biltstraat in Utrecht. A total of three protesters would be there in a kind of ambulance. The demonstration eventually fell through.
The group wants to demonstrate again at the abortion clinic on Friday and Utrecht has again assigned them the place a little further away. That location “leaves the core of the right to demonstrate intact and at the same time gives women on their way to the clinic a greater chance of a quiet and undisturbed visit”, says Dijksma.
In several municipalities there is a buffer zone at abortion clinics. Protesters are not allowed to address women in that buffer zone who want to have an abortion.