U.K. retiree fined for offering a chance to chat

A British court has convicted a 64-year-old woman for holding a sign. Livia Tossici-Bolt, a retired medical scientist originally from Italy, stood outside of an abortion facility in Bournemouth, England, for two days in March 2023. She held a sign that read, “Here to talk if you want.”

Multiple people approached her to talk, Tossici-Bolt said later, adding that she wanted to offer people in difficult situations the chance to chat.

On Friday, a magistrates’ court fined Tossici-Bolt more than $25,000 when it convicted her for holding the sign while standing inside a “buffer zone” around the abortion center, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service. Created under the Public Spaces Protection Order in 2022, the buffer zone prohibits individuals from giving an “expression of approval or disapproval of abortion” within a 150-meter area around the facility.

“There’s nothing wrong with offering to speak to people in need,” Tossici-Bolt said in a statement. “There’s nothing wrong with two adults engaging in a consensual conversation on the street. I shouldn’t be treated like a criminal just for this.”

City officials fined Tossici-Bolt in 2023 for breaching the zone. She declined to pay it, contesting that under the United Kingdom’s Human Rights Act she had the right to offer consensual conversations.

Though Tossici-Bolt’s sign had no mention of abortion, District Judge Orla Austin said it is beyond reasonable doubt that Tossici-Bolt expressed disapproval of abortion services because she held her sign within the buffer zone.

“I accept her beliefs were truly held beliefs,” Austin said. “Although it’s accepted this defendant held pro-life views, it’s important to note this case is not about the rights and wrongs about abortion but about whether the defendant was in breach of the [public spaces protection order].”

Austin issued Tossici-Bolt a conditional discharge, meaning she could still be sentenced if she commits any further offenses. Heidi Stewart, the CEO of the abortion facility, said in a statement that the center welcomes the verdict.

The U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor—part of the State Department—posted on X that it is “disappointed” with the conviction. “Freedom of expression must be protected for all,” the agency said.

Tossici-Bolt said she hopes the court ruling “encourages this country to take a close look at what it means to convict someone for nothing more than offering conversation.”

Alliance Defending Freedom International, which is representing Tossici-Bolt, said the conviction violates the right of free expression.

“Everyone who cares about free speech should care about ‘buffer zones,’” said ADF International attorney Lorcán Price. “A Christian woman has been convicted merely for offering to chat on a public street in Britain. This ruling should show all reasonable people that, beyond the shadow of a doubt, abortion facility ‘buffer zones’ are incompatible with a free society.”

Price said that ADF is considering all legal options to determine the next steps for Tossici-Bolt.

Edward Leigh, a member of Parliament, agreed this conviction violates free speech rights. “Freedom of thought and freedom of speech are the bedrock of a free society,” he told ADF. “It’s mad that a retiree is facing trial for inviting people to have a harmless chat.”

Tossici-Bolt isn’t the only person to be charged for breaching the buffer zones in Bournemouth. In October 2024, army veteran Adam Smith-Connor was convicted for praying silently in his mind for a few minutes in a public space across the road from an abortion facility. Smith-Connor plans to appeal his conviction in a July trial.Vice President J.D. Vance mentioned Smith-Connor’s plight in his speech to the Munich Security Conference in February.

That same month, Glasgow police arrested 74-year-old grandmother Rose Docherty for holding a sign that read, “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want,” in a buffer zone.

“This is a dark day for Great Britain,” Tossici-Bolt said following her conviction. “Freedom of expression is in a state of crisis in the U.K. What has happened to this country?”