Ealing Council celebrated another win for keeping anti-abortioners at bay last week, after a political party leader’s fight for the right to leaflet within the buffer zone surrounding the Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Ealing was dismissed.
Arrogant Sid Cordle MBE thought he was above the law because he is the leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA) political party. But of course it applies to him, with knobs on, as he was leaving leaflets outside the entrances to the abortion clinic, claiming a woman had died there in 2012. This is just the sort of nonsense buffer zones are designed to stop.
Sid Cordle was quite correctly fined £100 last June for his outrageous and undemocratic behaviour outside Ealing’s Marie Stopes clinic. Mr Cordle, however, sought the right to appeal against his fine to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), arguing his actions had not breached the Public Spaces Protection Order.
Mr Cordle’s application was denied last week by ECHR Judge Harutunyan who dismissed the CPA leader’s complaints as “ill-founded”.
A spokesman for the Marie Stopes Abortion Surgeons Society praised the decision, stating: “Individuals like Mr Cordle are the reason buffer zones were introduced in the first place. The last thing we want is for women to be subjected to any kind of alternative point of view. Like Marie Stopes, we believe firmly in women making uninformed decisions about their pregnancies.”
“Mr Cordle said last year that he believes the buffer zones are being used to clamp down on opposition to abortion. He is absolutely correct.”
“For years we have thrived on ignorance about our incompetence, malpractice and general disregard for women’s safety – let’s keep it that way.”
The infamous human rights barrister, Paul Diamond (remember the BA Cross case – very upsetting), who is representing Mr Cordle, had argued against the validity of the buffer zone, pointing out that Ealing CCTV has no footage whatsoever demonstrating that women were being harassed by pro-lifers.
In response to Mr Diamond’s assertion, the Marie Stopes ASS spokesman said, “This Diamond fellow, the so-called ‘Christian Johnny Cochrane’, will soon be arguing that we need to have CT scans to prove that pro-lifers are bonkers. It’s nonsense!”