Redmond said she worried about what scale harassment outside abortion clinics would have to reach before the Home Office would deem it necessary to act nationally. “What does Sajid Javid want? Does he want someone to get hurt?” she continued. “It feels like waiting for something awful to happen when actually bad things are already going on.”

Despite an ongoing legal challenge to Ealing’s PSPO, protesters have adhered to its restrictions and clinic staff and local councillors consider it to be a success.

The Good Counsel Network’s Clare McCullough, who had organised the vigils in Ealing, told us that as her volunteers are distanced from the clinic, she is unable to “support” as many women. She continues to protest against abortion in the designated area in Ealing, as well as outside a BPAS clinic in Richmond, southwest London, and a Marie Stopes facility in the city centre.

But even Ealing’s PSPO is not without vulnerability. Alina Dulgheriu, who brought the initial legal challenge against the council, has crowdfunded more than £50,000 to launch an appeal. The order is only temporary, meaning Ealing council will have to undergo the same time-consuming process to get it renewed when it expires in three years’ time.

Binda Rai, the councillor for Ealing’s Walpole ward who led the council’s efforts to implement the current PSPO, said it was “outrageous” for Javid to expect other councils to duplicate this effort time and again.

“The current system means that councils have to go through a lengthy and complex process to allow women access to services that they are entitled to with privacy and dignity, free from the interference that causes them distress and harassment,” Rai said.

“It would appear that he has no understanding of what women go through at such a vulnerable and difficult period in their lives,” Rai continued. “It is a national issue: Women up and down the country are facing harassment from protestors outside abortion clinics and this activity is on the increase. To avoid a postcode lottery for women, a national solution is a must and would take this debate away from clinic doors and ensure a consistent approach across the country.”

Responding to Javid’s announcement last week, Labour MP Rupa Huq, who helped bring the issue to national attention, vowed to keep on fighting for a universal ban.

“Shoving the burden on to already cash-strapped local authorities is not addressing the problem, it’s just passing the buck,” Huq, who represents Ealing Central and Acton, told BuzzFeed News.

“I will not give up on this and have been promised a meeting with ministers so as to ensure vulnerable women cannot be sidelined and that they can access healthcare as is the case with any other procedure.”

Huq has received wide political support on the issue, including from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who accused Javid of a “shocking failure to protect women from harassment and intimidation when exercising their right to choose”.

In the meantime, the protests outside abortion clinics are free to continue.

When the 40 Days for Life campaign starts again on Sept. 26, a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News, it will have volunteers stationed outside clinics nationwide, seven days a week, from 8am to 8pm.

Redmond said she was concerned that the Home Office’s decision could leave protesters feeling emboldened: “I do think they will be saying, ‘Why are you telling us we can’t be here when the most powerful people have told us that we can?’”