ANTI-ABORTION protests outside clinics could be banned by councils across England following a local authority's proposals to implement a buffer zone.

Ealing Council cabinet will vote this evening on whether to ban protests outside a Marie Stopes clinic in the London borough through a public space protection order (PSPO).

It is one of the options being explored on how to prevent "intimidation, harassment and distress" of women using the clinic following a petition signed by 3,500 people.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has backed the motion and said behaviour that "seeks to deliberately target women for harassment and intimidation should not be tolerated."

Authorities in Birmingham, Manchester, Portsmouth and the London boroughs of Lambeth, Richmond and Southwark have also discussed action.

Manchester City Council passed a motion in January to investigate reports of intimidation and harassment outside a clinic in Fallowfield and to mimic Ealing council's proposed plans if necessary.

Council documents said: "Those who wish to campaign to restrict women's reproductive choices have plenty of opportunities and locations in which to do so. The area outside a clinic need not and should not be one of them."

Birmingham city council discussed a similar motion in December, proposed by two female Labour councillors.

The council described demonstrations outside a clinic in Edgbaston as "street harassment" and "a form of sexism against women."

In a Portsmouth city council meeting, one patient said: "It made an extremely difficult decision even more horrendous than it could have been."

Ealing council's vote follows a period of heightened anti-abortion activity over Britain, with the international, religiously based group 40 Days for Life holding vigils throughout Lent.

Clinical operations manager John Hansen Brevetti said that "pavement counsellors" were outside the clinic every day, approaching every client on the way in and out.

He said: "That's how we know that this isn't just about providing information, however inaccurate that information might be. This is about making people feel shame and fear for the decision they've made.

"People come into our consultation rooms crying and shaking. Sometimes we have to wait to take their blood pressure because they're so anxious having been through that."

SisterSupporter's Anna Veglio-White said the fact there had been no arrests was a "huge signifier" that change was needed as harassment law was clearly not sufficient.

Counter-protesters from SisterSupporter have been attending the clinic every Saturday since Easter last year to try to create a "human shield" to protect the women.

Ms Veglio-White said she had seen protesters misdirect women away from the clinic so they miss their appointments and afterwards follow them to their cars and try to jam leaflets through the windows.

She said it was done "under a veil of 'we care about women’," which she said was a dangerous and false narrative.

"The very core of this is that they do not believe in abortion and by any means necessary they want every single person coming through to keep that child, no matter what the circumstances," she added.

A log book of entries by patients and staff catalogues some of the encounters and one woman wrote: "I felt very traumatised seeing photos of babies' embryos outside of this clinic. The lady outside will not remove the photos and would not listen to my complaint.

"If there is any way you can remove these people/group from standing outside, please make it happen. This is unacceptable and wrong."

The clinic provides around 7,000 medical and surgical abortions a year and medical professionals say one in three women will have an abortion in their lifetime.