A pro-life charity, Life, has started legal action against Lambeth Council after they were instructed to remove their stall from a Country show in July, saying the action infringed their human rights.
Life was ejected from Lambeth Country Show last month following complaints from visitors about their stall, which was said to have been displaying plastic replicas of unborn babies at various stages of development.
The anti-abortion charity says it plans to sue the council for libel and infringing its freedom of expression under human rights law. In a statement released on 13 August, they accuse Lambeth council of “defamation, breach of contract and interference with our freedom of expression”.
They allege that despite having had their application for a stall at the show approved in April, council officials, without giving any forewarning, dismantled their store and ordered Life volunteers to leave.
“In a legal letter sent by our solicitors on Friday [10 July], Lambeth Council has been informed of prospective claims against it for libel and the unlawful interference with Life’s right to freedom of expression, contrary to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights,” Life said in the statement.
The statement said the charity is seeking “a public correction and apology from Lambeth Council” and “an undertaking that our right to freedom of expression will not be unlawfully interfered with again”.
Around 150,000 people attended the Country Show, held in Brockwell Park, on 21-22 July. During the weekend of the Show, Ed Davie, Lambeth’s cabinet member for health, tweeted in response to complaints about the stall: “It’s a community festival — that includes women who have had to make really hard family planning decisions who don’t want plastic foetuses in their faces.”
In Monday's statement, Life’s Director of Education Anne Scanlan said: “The beginning of human life in the womb is normal and worthy of celebration. This is what Life sought to do when it was stopped and ejected from the show, apparently because it showed educational models of the unborn baby (although different reasons have been provided at different times). When our right to celebrate the very start of human life is denied we have no choice but to stand up to those who wish to trample on freedom of expression.”
She continued: “The actions of Lambeth Council represent a grave injustice which must be challenged if we are to continue to defend the right to life of the unborn child and promote support for the thousands of women who need our help in crisis pregnancies.”
Lambeth Council have been approached for comment.
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