So we've got an opinion piece from an American attorney with a metaphorical hard-on for "free speech," weighing in on laws in a country he is neither licensed nor educated in, but hey.

The claim that "free speech has been in a free fall in the UK for years" is nonsense -- the comparison is against the USian ideal of free speech, rather than the actual definition in (US) law -- succinctly explained here[1].

That notwithstanding, there is no legislative or common-law definition of "free speech" or protection of such in the UK. The Human Rights Act 1998 says there is a right to "freedom of expression," but that it "may be subject to formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society." To wit, civil and criminal laws may define or curtail what is or isn't reasonable -- this is often used when defining "hate speech" as being specifically made against those with protected characteristics, because of said characteristics.

Simply put, the woman in question was "protesting" in a buffer zone that her actions were specifically prohibited in -- if she'd bothered to stay in the area it was legal for her to do those acts in, there wouldn't be any news to report.

The Public Space Protection Order in place is designed so that those requiring the services of these clinics (which aren't limited to abortion), can safely access them without the levels of harassment and intimidation seen in the likes of the US. Violate the order, you've broken the law, you're liable to be arrested -- simple/

It's a non-story, a false flag screaming "but muh free speech!" from someone not qualified to talk on the specifics, and failing to accept the issue isn't even concerning freedom of speech, but violation of a PSPO.

The woman being approached by the police, was the result of West Midlands Police receiving a complaint beforehand -- so it's something that's been observed previously and has concerned a member of the public enough to report it.

If you just want to pray about the matter, do it where it's legal to. Don't be stupid enough to loiter outside an abortion clinic and claim you're "just standing here" knowing full well you're breaking the law.

For those interested, the Public Space Protection Order in question is here[2], and includes:

"i. Protesting, namely engaging in any act of approval or disapproval or attempted act of approval or disapproval, with respect to issues related to abortion services, by any means. This includes but is not limited to graphic, verbal or written means, prayer or counselling"

[...]

"iii. Intimidating or harassing, or attempting to intimidate or harass, a Robert Clinic service user, visitor or a member of staff"

The people visiting these clinics are vulnerable and potentially distressed enough by the visits, the fact that there needs to be a PSPO in the first place won't help those feelings -- and people don't just randomly hang around places like that -- it's highly likely to cause intimidation, and potentially attempts to harass visitors to the clinic in question.

This isn't a free speech issue, it's a "violating a protection order" issue -- and hardly something that the average "good hackers would find interesting," as per the HN submission guidelines[3].

[1] https://xkcd.com/1357/

[2] https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/downloads/file/24121/robert_cl...

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html