TORONTO -- Ontario will create safe zones around abortion clinics and the homes of health professionals who perform the services.
Attorney General Yasir Naqvi says the zones, which will extend 50 to 150 metres around clinics that provide the abortions, are designed to protect women who choose to access the services.
Naqvi says the zones are spaces where advising a person to refrain from getting an abortion, anti-abortion protests and intimidation or interfering with a woman's ability to access the services will be banned.
The ban will also automatically apply to 150 metres around the homes of abortion staff and health professionals who provide the services.
Anyone who violates the safe zones would faces up to $5,000 in fines and six months in jail for a first offence.
Naqvi introduced the legislation to create the zones Wednesday.