Tabling a bill to outlaw protests at Canberra's abortion clinic on Thursday, Greens Minister Shane Rattenbury acknowledged his own past on the front line of high-profile protests, including leading a Greenpeace anti-whaling expedition in a confrontation with Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters.
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But he rejected the suggestion that banning protests outside the Moore Street clinic was an attack on people's rights.
"It's really important to draw a distinction here between protesting against a policy and targeting an individual.That's the distinction I wish to draw," he said. "You can protest this policy anywhere you like in Canberra, except from the area where you're specifically targeting an individual who's seeking to access a service that's currently legal. I feel that is unfair harassment of a woman who's probably struggling already with the process of going through an abortion."
Mr Rattenbury, who led an anti-whaling Greenpeace expedition in 2006 when his ship was rammed by a Japanese whaling factory ship, said he strongly supported people's right to protest, but the right was not absolute. Many protests had restrictions, including security restrictions on protests at Parliament House.
"Just as we believe in the right to free speech but not hate speech, we must defend the right to protest but not in a way that infringes on an individual's right to access services for her own health," he said.
He wants to outlaw protests, including the regular Friday prayer vigils, outside the Moore Street clinic in the city, sparked by a decision by Catholic Archbishop Christopher Prowse to lead prayers outside the clinic in the lead-up to Easter in March.
The move has upset protesters, who point to the silent and peaceful nature of their prayer vigils.
But Mr Rattenbury said women should be able to enter the abortion clinic, or have any other medical procedure, without being subjected to "judgment, intimidation and a lack of privacy".
"All forms of protest, by any means, and from any side of the debate, will be prohibited. The intention of the bill is to ensure that both staff and patients may enter and exit the facility without interference," he said.
The ban would apply to both sides of the street outside the footprint of the corner building.
Since his plans were made public, Mr Rattenbury said he had received considerable feedback, with the issue having "raised passions", but most comments had been supportive.
He is already rethinking the proposed ban on photography and videos in the clear zone. The legislation bans, "the intentional capturing of visual data of a person who is entering, trying to enter or who has left an approved medical facility without the person's consent", and Mr Rattenbury said concern had been raised about the broad scope.
