Minister blocks plan for protest buffer zones around abortion clinics
Plans to create legally mandated buffer zones around abortion clinics to protect visitors from protesters have been halted after last-minute opposition from BBB Vice Prime Minister Mona Keijzer, sources told RTL. The move affects proposals by ministers for Interior and Kingdom Relations, Rijkaart (BBB), and Justice and Security, Van Oosten (VVD).
The proposal, submitted last Friday to the ministerial council, aimed to establish zones around clinics where demonstrations would be restricted. “Women must be guaranteed a quiet passage to an abortion clinic,” the ministers wrote in an unpublished letter seen by RTL. Currently, such protections depend on decisions by individual mayors.
Keijzer raised objections to the measure, questioning whether protests near abortion clinics posed a sufficiently serious problem. “Is protecting Jewish community property or safeguarding farmers from demonstrators on their land not more important?” she reportedly said. She also noted that court rulings already allow mayors to require protesters to remain at a distance from clinics, citing decisions from the Council of State.
Supporters of buffer zones argued that the measure would not infringe on the right to demonstrate. “Protesters would still be within sound and sight of a clinic. They just could not shove a baby doll in a woman’s face or call her a murderer on the way to the clinic,” a source involved said.
Keijzer’s opposition also put her at odds with party colleague Rijkaart, who had failed to coordinate the proposal with BBB members before submitting it.
When this became apparent, caretaker Prime Minister Schoof instructed Rijkaart and Van Oosten to defend the proposal in the ministerial council. In the debate, Keijzer successfully blocked the buffer zone plan.
After discussions among the ministers, the letter from Rijkaart and Van Oosten will return to the ministerial council agenda next Friday, but all references to establishing a buffer zone have been removed, sources said.
