Abortion is legal in Victoria and yet each day patients arriving at an East Melbourne Abortion clinic have to dodge pro-life protesters as they walk to the clinic door.
Clinic staff say pro-lifers regularly confront pregnant women who have made the decision to terminate their pregnancy by yelling slogans like “don’t kill your baby”.
Fed up, staff members have taken legal action claiming Melbourne City Council have failed in its responsibility to protect women from harrasment and threatening behavior.
Clinical psychologist Susie Allanson and her colleagues at Fertility Control Clinic have urged a Supreme Court judge to enforce the council to deal with the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, who protest outside the Wellington Parade clinic six days a week.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn have spoken to media claiming the protesters are out of line.
“They consider themselves to be trying to stop women from accessing abortions and that is totally unacceptable in a state where abortion is decriminalised and perfectly lawful,” said Elizabeth O’Shea of law firm Maurice Blackburn.
