Abortion campaigners gather at Sheffield Hallamshire Hospital after warnings of pro-life protest

But the expected rally by an American based anti-abortion group failed to materialise despite concerns in the local community.

A flow of pro-choice campaigners were at the hospital, on Glossop Road, thoughout Wednesday, with around 10 on the site at around mid day.

One member of the counter protest group at the hospital, Lesley Dike, said: “I’ve been fighting for abortion rights since the late 1970s, and the abortion act must stand.

“It’s been extraordinary that in less than two days there have been at least 150 people on social media saying that they would be here if necessary to mount a counter protest to the pro-lifers. But the pro-lifers haven’t turned up.

“There have been a lot of people popping in who live locally, or work locally, or study locally, popping in to check if their support was needed or not.”

Campaigners were only allowed on Glossop Road.

Lesley said she hoped the lack of protesters from the pro-life groups shows a lack of interest, as she thought the rights of women to have an abortion in Sheffield should be protected.

She said the issue was important to her, as her mother had to have an illegal abortion in Denmark in the 1960s, as she was unable to cope with another child for family reasons.

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Sheffield City Councillor Ben Miskell, who recently called for a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) to create what he says will be a ‘buffer zone’ around the hospital site said: “After lots of bluster from this US based anti-choice group, the fact that they failed to show says it all. South Yorkshire continues to be a pro-choice region, that overwhelmingly supports a women’s right to choose what happens to her own body. Nobody has a right to interfere with their healthcare.

“They clearly found it impossible to pull together even a small number of demonstrators, when hundreds of women and male allies came together over social media to monitor the area and stood ready to defend access to vital healthcare services.”

“Moving forward, we urgently need a change in the law, to make it illegal to harass women on their way into clinics and hospitals that provide abortion services. The sort of intimidation that we’ve seen in other parts of the country and around the world from a fanatical few really isn’t acceptable or welcome here,” he added.

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