"It's not the same thing as standing outside Parliament House with a banner." Credit:Charles McQuillan As she sat in the waiting room, the mood was "pretty tense", with a CCTV camera monitor showing the protesters outside. On another occasion, on her way to a follow-up appointment, Bridget approached the clinic carrying a bottle of champagne, which was for her housemate's birthday celebration later that day. One protester noticed the bottle, and became angry. "He was shouting at me – he mentioned the champagne and wasn't very happy. They thought I was celebrating." Bridget believes they have a right to an opinion, "just not in that way, not in that setting I don't think."

Anti-abortion protesters hold a vigil outside a Melbourne medical clinic. Credit:Rebecca Hallas "It's hard to overstate how confrontational it is to have people block your way and shout at you on the street." Last month, NSW Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi's buffer zone law proposal, along with a broader bill to fully decriminalise abortion, was voted down by the NSW Legislative Council. Mehreen Faruqi and Penny Sharpe campaign for abortion law reform outside NSW Parliament. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Dr Faruqi said there is overwhelming support for decriminalisation and safe access zones. "Patients are there to get advice and help from their doctors, not a group of anti-choice protesters. This is not acceptable for any other medical procedure and should not be for pregnancy termination either," she wrote.

A second bill for creating safe access zones around abortion clinics, from Labor MP Penny Sharpe, is expected to be voted on later this year. It would amend the Summary Offences Act to prohibit intimidation of any person entering or leaving a clinic that provides abortion. "It's very hard under the current laws to lay charges for what's happening to women as they go into the clinic," Ms Sharpe said. Julie Hamblin, a Sydney lawyer who has worked extensively on sexual and reproductive rights, agreed that existing laws do not offer satisfactory legal redress to women being harassed or intimidated outside a clinic. "There are various offences relating to offensive behaviour but they are usually used for things like foul language and indecent exposure." She noted that the new legislation won't hinder people's right to protest.

"The boundary is crossed when the protest is targeted at causing distress to individual women at the time they are accessing a termination," Hamblin said. "It's not the same thing as standing outside Parliament House with a banner." Paul Nattrass, the practice manager at The Private Clinic believes that protesters are there to "increase the emotional cost of having an abortion". "On days when the protesters are outside it's common to see every fourth or fifth woman upset or emotional." However, despite their claims, Paul doesn't think that protesters' tactics work to dissuade people from going through with the procedure.

"The protesters claim that they can change someone's mind by offering them baby clothes or a small amount of money but it doesn't make much difference." "I've been at the clinic for 15 years and I've never seen one of them turn our patients around." The centre manager at the Dr Marie clinic in Canberra has seen the difference the laws can make, after being introduced in 2016 in the ACT. Victoria Dolphin said legislation making it an offence to protest within 50 metres of the clinic helped staff stay focused and feel safe at work. "If I was to be harassed every day, you'd get higher levels of burnout," she said. For patients, it's ultimately about being able to access the care they need without adding emotional trauma to the mix.

"I think as much as physical safety, that access path has allowed for emotional safety." Loading "Obviously the decision-making around having a termination – there's still quite a stigma attached to that, and people can feel intimidated in their decision process if they have to steel themselves [against protesters] to get it done. "If you remove that, you have women who are relaxed, they're clear-headed, they feel safe in their decision."