“No one is stopping [the protesters] from telling other people who they saw there that day, and at the time I was really concerned with people knowing that I was making that decision,” she said.



“I felt like my privacy would be taken away from me.”

Because Laura was still at an early enough stage of her pregnancy, she was able to opt for a medical abortion instead. Last month she went to the GP to get abortion drug RU486.

“Now that I have had a medical [abortion] I would have definitely preferred to go the surgical route, because you have to see it happen and I didn’t want that.”

Abortion is still a crime for women and doctors in NSW and is only lawful if a doctor believes a woman's physical and/or mental health are in serious danger. Social and economic factors may also be taken into account.

Laura has always been pro-choice but said the experience gave her a “different perspective” on the barriers women in NSW face when making decisions about their own bodies.

“It seemed really unfair to me because [the clinic] should be a safe place for women,” she said.

“No one should be able to take that right away from you.”

A bill to decriminalise abortion and enact 150 metre exclusion or “safe access” zones around abortion providers to protect patients against “ongoing harassment, abuse and intimidation” was introduced to NSW parliament by Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi in August.

NSW Labor MP Penny Sharpe has also initiated a private member’s bill for safe access zones.