This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

An evangelical group has ramped up demonstrations outside several Brisbane abortion clinics as Queensland prepares to reform its 1899 laws that make abortion a criminal offence.

Guardian Australia is aware of several recent verbal clashes between members of the anti-abortion group “Project 139” and clinic patients. The group has sought and received permits to conduct protests at four Brisbane clinics until at least August.

In response, Pro Choice Queensland has also taken to the streets, mobilising volunteers who carry purple umbrellas outside clinics and escort women safely past protesters.

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Sinead Canning from Pro Choice Queensland said the “pro choice defenders” had previously volunteered to support women during more sedate protests.



But Canning said the latest demonstrations had been more aggressive and confrontational than anything she had experienced before in Australia. Last week a protester was filmed harassing a woman outside an abortion clinic in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Spring Hill.

In the footage, which has been shared on social media, a woman can be heard screaming at a demonstrator to “shut up”. The protester replies: “That baby’s got a heartbeat”.

Guardian Australia understands Project 139 is the anti-abortion offshoot of a Brisbane-based “evangelical action group” called Operation 513. It documents on Facebook encounters with women who become “very angry” and “hostile”. Project 139 did not respond to a request for comment.

Canning said the protestors’ actions had been “pretty confronting”.

“All of the clinics have requested our presence so we can escort the patients in. Some people might go into those clinics with ectopic pregnancy or a wanted pregnancy [with complications] … they’re faced with pretty rabid harassment by these people.

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“Not only are they harassing the patients, but they’ve taken to harassing the [pro choice] volunteers.”

After successful moves to legalise abortion in Ireland and Argentina recently, Queensland looms as a significant next battleground for the issue.

The Queensland government has asked the state’s Law Reform Commission to review and modernise abortion laws, which have been unchanged since being written into Queensland’s criminal code in 1899.

Doctors who provide abortions face 14 years in prison, while women can be jailed for seven years. The last attempted prosecution in the state occurred eight years ago, when a Cairns couple was tried and acquitted for terminating a pregnancy.

The law reform commission is due to table its recommendations by the end of the month, and the Queensland government is likely to bring a bill before parliament this year.

It is understood the new legislation will also create a provision for “safe access zones” to prevent the sorts of protests that are ongoing outside clinics. For now, campaigns on both sides are ramping up for the debate. Anti-abortion protesters held a march through Brisbane in March and have been increasingly visible presence on city streets and outside the state parliament.

New South Wales joined several other states, including Victoria, earlier in June when it passed a law making it illegal to harass women outside abortion clinics.

Taking on social law reform is viewed by some as a bold strategy for the Palaszczuk government in a state with a long conservative history. It’s understood the government is cautious to temper the pace of reform, and will not bring forward a debate on euthanasia until it has shepherded the abortion laws through the parliament.

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A Feburary 2017 poll by Fair Agenda found 82% of Queenslanders believed it should be legal for a woman, in consultation with a doctor, to terminate a pregnancy.

A spokeswoman for anti-abortion group Cherish Life said the footage she had seen of the protesters was “appalling” and that Cherish Life did not run its own demonstrations.

In a media release responding to safe access zone laws passing in NSW, the group defended “sidewalk counsellors” who they said “do a tremendous amount of good”.

Cherish Life said the group wanted “safeguards” for women included in any new legislation including mandatory counselling, cooling off periods and a requirement for doctors’ referrals.