Western Australia is close to joining every other Australian state and territory in legislating safe access zones around abortion clinics.
The state parliament is set to pass a government bill which will prevent people from picketing within 150 metres of facilities that provide abortion services.
Debate is continuing in the Legislative Council but its passage is assured given the McGowan Labor government's majority in both houses.
A final vote is expected late on Wednesday.
Family planning healthcare provider Marie Stopes says the bill's passage will prevent women from intimidation and harassment when accessing abortions.
It says picketers spend almost 2300 hours each year outside the Marie Stopes Midland clinic and that staff have also been targeted.
Premier Mark McGowan earlier on Wednesday said he hoped safe access zones would become law by the end of the day.
"They're a decent thing to do to protect women at a very vulnerable time," he told reporters.
"People who suggest they should be free to harass a woman at that point in time are wrong."
Liberal MPs Nick Goiran and Neil Thomson, and Nationals MP James Hayward, opposed the bill on the second reading late on Tuesday.
Mr Goiran told the chamber he had visited the Midland clinic and seen no evidence of heckling or harassing.
"I saw people offering help with a demeanour of respect, empathy and humanity," he said.
Labor MP Samantha Rowe cited a constituent who described being called a "murderer" by pro-life protesters waiting outside a clinic.
"People accessing a legal medical procedure should not have to undergo any kind of interference," she said.
Human Rights Law Centre associate legal director Adrianne Walters urged MPs to back the bill.
"For far too long, women in WA have been targeted by anti-abortion activists and had to run a gauntlet of abuse to see their doctor," she said.
"Safe access zone laws have a critical role to play in making sure that no person is harassed or filmed by strangers as they walk to their doctor's front door."
