CHRISTIAN campaigners are mounting High Court challenges to a council order which "restricts activities" around a clinic which provides abortions.

Two judges are considering challenges to the order, made by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, at a High Court hearing in London.

Lord Justice Warby and Mrs Justice Thornton heard that the Public Spaces Protection Order was made a year ago and "restricts activities" around the Robert Clinic, in Bournemouth, which is run by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.

Read more: Legal action launched against BCP Council over 'buffer zone'

The buffer zone - a Public Space Protection Order - has been in place at the British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS) Clinic in Ophir Road, Bournemouth, since October last year, in operation between 7am and 7pm Monday to Friday. 

Previously, Miss Tossici-Bolt said: “By imposing this PSPO, BCP Council is preventing women coerced into abortion from being reached and helped and denying women and couples in difficult circumstances the possibility of receiving independent information and supportive alternatives to abortion. 

“We believe what the council has done is unlawful, discriminatory and unethical and we are determined to fight for justice.” 

Last year Rachael Clarke, chief of staff at BPAS, said she is “disappointed that the council’s and the court’s time will be wasted once again making clear to these groups that harassing women in the street is not acceptable behaviour.” 

Lawyers representing the council told judges that the order placed restrictions on the "activities of various groups and individuals present outside" the clinic.

The campaign organisation Christian Concern and Livia Tossici-Bolt, who leads an an anti-abortion group called "40 Days for life Bournemouth", have questioned the validity of the order.

A Christian Concern spokesman said, outside court, that campaigners were arguing that the "buffer zone" around the clinic "criminalises prayer and reading from the bible".

Barrister Kuljit Bhogal KC, who is leading the council's legal team told judges that the order protected "service users and clinic staff" from "activities" which were "evidenced to have had a detrimental effect on the quality of their life".

She said campaigners' claims should be dismissed.