“The legislation announced by the British government criminalises a range of activities within a 150-metre perimeter of an abortion facility. Such activities potentially include prayer and offers of practical support to women who have chosen to have a termination of pregnancy, so it is a potential threat to freedom of speech, thought, conscience and religion”. It is bishop John Sherrington, lead of the pro-life section of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, who writes this in a release, to express his concern for the British Government’s decision to enforce, as from October 31st, the so-called “buffer zones” around clinics that provide abortion, where a number of activities, such as approaching women who intend to have an abortion, will be forbidden. “As the Catholic Bishops’ Conference repeatedly stated during the passage of the Public Order Bill last year, ‘safe access zone’ legislation is unnecessary and disproportionate”, the English bishops write in their release. “We condemn all harassment and intimidation of women and hold that, in the British legislation, there are already laws and mechanisms in place to protect women from such behaviour. In practice, this legislation constitutes discrimination and disproportionately affects people of faith”.