Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Act 2024
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Conduct prohibited in safe access zones | ||
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2. (1) A person shall not, without lawful authority, in a safe access zone, engage in conduct— | ||
(a) that is likely to obstruct or impede another person from accessing a relevant healthcare premises, and | ||
(b) with intent to obstruct or impede that person from availing of, or providing, termination of pregnancy services, or being reckless as to whether such person is thereby so obstructed or impeded. | ||
(2) Subject to section 3 , a person shall not, in a safe access zone— | ||
(a) communicate material to the public or a section of the public in a manner that is likely to influence the decision of another person in relation to availing of, or providing, termination of pregnancy services, or | ||
(b) otherwise engage in conduct directed at the public or a section of the public in a manner that is likely to influence the decision of a person in relation to availing of, or providing, termination of pregnancy services, | ||
with intent to influence the decision of such a person in relation to availing of, or providing, termination of pregnancy services, or being reckless as to whether such a decision is thereby so influenced. | ||
(3) A person shall not, in a safe access zone— | ||
(a) engage in conduct that is likely to threaten or intimidate a person who is accessing or attempting to access a relevant healthcare premises, or | ||
(b) accompany, follow or repeatedly approach, a person who is accessing or attempting to access a relevant healthcare premises, | ||
with intent to influence the decision of such a person in relation to availing of, or providing, termination of pregnancy services, or being reckless as to whether such a decision is thereby so influenced. | ||
(4) A person shall not, in a safe access zone, photograph, film or otherwise record, by any means, a person in a safe access zone who is accessing or attempting to access a relevant healthcare premises, with intent to influence the decision of such a person in relation to availing of, or providing, termination of pregnancy services, or being reckless as to whether such a decision is thereby so influenced. | ||
(5) For the purposes of this section, a person shall be regarded as communicating material to the public or a section of the public if the person— | ||
(a) displays, publishes, distributes or disseminates the material, | ||
(b) shows or plays the material, or | ||
(c) makes the material available in any other way including through the use of an information system, | ||
to the public or a section of the public. | ||
(6) For the purposes of this section, a person’s conduct shall include conduct of any kind and, in particular, things that the person says or otherwise communicates, as well as things that the person does and such conduct may consist of a single act or a course of conduct. | ||
(7) In this section— | ||
“information system” has the same meaning as it has in section 1 of the Criminal Justice (Offences Relating to Information Systems) Act 2017 ; | ||
“material” means anything that is capable of being looked at, read, watched or listened to, either directly or after conversion from data stored in another form. |