A PROPOSED law to ban anti-abortion groups from protesting outside abortion clinics has created strange bedfellows, with church groups backing a move by Greens leader Nick McKim to change the legislation.
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The ban is included in the Reproductive Health Bill and would make anyone performing ``prohibited behaviour'' within an access zone of 150 metres guilty of a crime and liable to pay a $65,000 fine or spend 12 months in jail.
Prohibited behaviours include: harassing, intimidating, obstructing a person going into the clinic; conducting a protest or footpath interference about abortions; or recording people going into the clinic.
Mr McKim said he would move an amendment removing the word ``protest'' from the list of offences, which he said would protect women without restricting free speech.
He said he otherwise supported the access zones and would vote for the legislation.
Anglican Bishop John Harrower and Family Voice's Jim Collins supported the proposed amendment, but both said the legislation should be scrapped altogether.
Mr Collins and Reverend Harrower said they would not support women being threatened or intimidated, but said people ought to have the right to peacefully protest.
Mr Collins said he was particularly concerned that police were given the power to search protesters and seize recording equipment under the final draft of the legislation.
Health Minister Michelle O'Byrne, who moved the legislation as a private member's bill, said it contained ``standard enforcement provisions'' included after consultation with police, and mirrored powers found in the Police Offences Act.
Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns said Mr McKim's proposed amendment was ``foolish'' and would not stop the intimidation or interference of women.
``It's not a matter of freedom of speech, it's about balancing that right and the right of the sometimes vulnerable people to enter a clinic and terminate a pregnancy,'' Mr Barns said.
``Protesters can form a line and prevent people from entering a clinic. A protest can become an interference,'' he said.
Parliament will debate the legislation next week. If passed, it would allow the termination of pregnancies up to 16 weeks.
After that point, two doctors would have to certify that the abortion was necessary to prevent greater medical, psychological or socio-economic risks.
Reverend Harrower said he was concerned at the inclusion of socio-economic risks as a justification, and said it effectively meant abortion on demand at any point in the pregnancy.
