A new campaign by students at Edinburgh University is calling for a ban on protesters outside city abortion clinics.
As services at Chalmers Sexual Health Centre restart, the "Back Off Chalmers" campaign says 'anti-choice' protesters should be stopped from campaigning outside the centre.
They have called for buffer zones to be set up, preventing the protests from taking place within a certain distance of the NHS clinics.
And the group have won the support of over 3,000 who have signed a petition backing their proposals.
The petition has been sent to the City of Edinburgh Council, and the group will also lobby the Scottish Government for support.
The group hope that through their grassroots campaign, the Scottish Government will introduce 150 metre ‘buffer zones’ that will move protests away from the gates of hospitals and clinics that provide abortion services such as at Chalmers on Lauriston Place.
Back Off Chalmers was founded in October by University of Edinburgh student, Ella Cheney, and is being co-ordinated and run by a large group of volunteers.
Commenting, Back Off Chalmers founder, Ella Cheney, said: “Back Off Chalmers wants 150m buffer zones around clinics that provide abortion services in Edinburgh.
“We are petitioning in favour of this. We want clinics throughout Edinburgh that provide abortion services to be free of harassment and accessible to all.
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“This isn’t a freedom to protest issue. Protests start public discourse and engage institutions on issues - they don’t target individuals accessing medical services.
“Anti-choice activity outside clinics is incoherent with our right to confidentially access essential medical services - with our right to choose.
“I would encourage all Edinburgh residents to sign our petition and help us to protect harassment-free access to healthcare in the city.”
