An anti-abortion protester accused of harassing a couple outside a clinic will argue her constitutional right to free speech means her case should be thrown out.

Kathleen Clubb​, a mother of 13, is believed to be the first person charged under new safe-zone laws that prohibit protests within 150 metres of abortion clinics.

Kathy Clubb, in glasses, outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday Credit:Paul Jeffers

The laws also stop pro-life protesters from making contact with people entering or leaving clinics in a way that could cause distress or anxiety.

Ms Clubb, 51, handed a pamphlet to a couple outside the Fertility Control Clinic in East Melbourne on August 4 last year, and is charged with a single count of communicating about abortions with people accessing an abortion clinic.