Patients visiting a clinic in Ealing - which has been "plagued by daily anti-abortion vigils for more than two decades" - have reportedly been handed models and pictures of dismembered foetuses.
Women using the Marie Stopes clinic , in Mattock Lane, have been "harassed" by protesters, who have allegedly accused patients of murder and told women they will be "haunted by their baby".
A local group campaigning against the vigils, which have left women "intimidated and distressed", will next week present its case for a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) to Ealing Council .
Sister Supporter ran an petition for a PSPO in order to move anti-abortion campaigners away from the area outside the clinic, to allow women to access services free from intimidation.
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Their petition gathered 3,593 signatures - more than double the required amount - from people who thought the vigils were having a “detrimental effect" on the lives of patients and local residents.
The PSPO, which hopes to establish a 100-metre buffer against protesters at the clinic, will now be debated at a full council meeting on Tuesday (October 10) at 7pm in the Town Hall.
Anna Veglio-White, local resident and Sister Supporter spokesman, said the PSPO would give women the anonymity they are entitled to.
“The daily anti-abortion vigils go far beyond the legal right to protest," she said.
"While we respect the views of this minority group, we strongly object to their placement and behaviour outside clinics. We are calling upon Ealing Council to take action, and sincerely hope that other councils, and the government, will soon follow.
"If the PSPO goes through, it will mean no persons will legally be allowed to engage in protesting at the clinic, and those using it will be free from harassment maintaining the anonymity they are legally entitled to."
'I have seen them reduce people to tears'
Sarah Mackey, another member of Sister Supporter, said: “I joined Sister Supporter because I was fed up of walking past the clinic on a regular basis and seeing people on the gate hassling and upsetting the young women going in and out.
"I have seen them reduce people to tears," the Ealing resident added.
"They have no idea what has brought women here and it is cruel and intrusive to accost them like this - these women deserve privacy, not judgement."
The motion for the PSPO was prepared by Councillor Binda Rai, who suggested protesters had used "deliberately disturbing and graphic images and models" outside the clinic.
This, according to the Labour representative of the Walpole Ward, included "those purporting to be of dismembered foetuses".
On top of this, Cllr Rai suggested protesters distributed leaflets containing misleading information about abortion, and often followed, recorded and questioned women as they entered or left the centres.
She said: "Significant numbers of women report feeling intimidated and distressed by this activity as they try to access a lawful health care service in confidence.
"This council will take all necessary actions within its powers to prevent anti-abortion protesters from intimidating and harassing women outside the Marie Stopes Clinic.
"We will do this to provide the necessary reassurance and security that all women need and deserve as they make their own personal decision about their pregnancy and to defend the quality of life of those residents living nearby."
She added: "Those who wish to campaign to restrict women’s reproductive choices have plenty of opportunities and locations in which to do so.
"The area outside a clinic need not and should not be one of them."
Sister Supporters are carrying out a pro-choice demonstration outside Ealing Town Hall at 6pm on October 10 ahead of the meeting and are encouraging people to join them.
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