Eight councils in England are considering setting up abortion clinic buffer zones after pro-choice groups said the number of “intimidating” protests was on the rise.

Across the country, 42 vigils and protests have taken place between 2017 and 2018, according to figures compiled by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS). They were led by a number of anti-abortion groups including the Good Counsel Network and 40 Days for Life.

Campaigners say the protests amount to harassment and intimidation, although anti-abortion groups deny this. Pro-choice groups say Britain is increasingly influenced by US-style tactics of “pavement counselling”, in which women are waylaid as they enter clinics.

On Monday, in response to protests, Ealing council in west London became the first local authority to apply a public spaces protection order (PSPO) for the area around a Marie Stopes clinic to protect women from distress and intimidation.

Campaigners, MPs and councillors say a safe zone is necessary after women entering the clinic were called murderers and shown photographs of foetuses. The plan was unanimously approved by the council this month.

Rachael Clarke, a public affairs and advocacy manager at BPAS, described the spread of tactics was “deeply worrying”. “In recent years protests have become more regular, wider spread and more intimidating. What used to be a couple of nuns on the street is now groups of people approaching women and trying to talk to them about their personal medical decisions,” she said.

“But it’s important to know that regardless of what protesters do, their very presence is intimidating to women.”

Other councils considering following Ealing’s lead include Lambeth, Richmond, and Southwark in London, and Portsmouth, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. All have been looking into options including PSPOs. Lambeth is the most advanced, having already consulted on a PSPO.

On Monday in Ealing, on the first day of the official safe zone, just a few individuals were present, standing about 100 yards away – the closest they can be – from the clinic on a small patch of grass.

One of those who remained, Ed, said the PSPO would not stop him from attending vigils. “I am here to defy when required,” he said, describing the order as a violation of human rights.Binda Rai, a Labour councillor for Walpole Ward who has helped implement the buffer zone, said while the PSPO was useful it would last only three years before the council would have to again gather evidence and call a vote to renew the protection. “There needs to be a national solution – the people of Ealing are protected but others are not,” she said.

In Richmond, the Conservative councillor Mark Boyle said the council would not tolerate antisocial behaviour that caused harassment, alarm and distress. He said after the Ealing decision, Richmond was preparing for a consultation on the use of PSPOs around the BPAS clinic in Twickenham.

Lib Peck, the leader of Lambeth council said women seeking abortions had been met with intimidation and harassment. “They have faced having to walk past anti-abortion campaigners waving placards with graphic imagery and handing out leaflets with fake or misleading medical information.”

Nottingham council sought an injunction against 40 Days for Life, a Christian movement, after they held vigils outside the abortion clinic at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham. The move was recently overturned on appeal.

Clarke said American influence had increased the size, frequency and persistence of abortion clinic protests.

“The four large groups are the Good Counsel Network, who have personally said that they use the US tactics of ‘pavement counselling’, which means approaching and attempting to waylay women as they enter clinics; Abort67, whose parent organisation is the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, which is run by an ex-Republican politician who has come over to train their activists ... This spread of tactics is deeply worrying,” she said.

Robert Colquhoun, the UK-based international director of 40 Days for Life, said while many people may have felt intimidated there had been no “single substantiated cases of harassment”.

He added: “I consider harassment a strong word in terms of what it entails. Many people feel nervous or bad but we have been there to pray and offer help or alternatives to abortion.”

Colquhoun said Ealing’s decision was opposed to free speech and “against some of the things in European convention in terms of human rights”.

Clarke said while she welcomed moves to address the growing problem, more needed to be done on a national level.

“BPAS will continue to call on [the home secretary] Amber Rudd and the Home Office to use their ongoing review of abortion clinic protests to bring in buffer zones across the country and allow women to access the healthcare treatment to which they are entitled without fear of harassment and intimidation,” she said.

Rupa Huq, the Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, agreed that a national strategy was essential. “We need a national solution … clinic staff [at Marie Stokes] had been getting hassled as well,” she said.

Rudd consulted on buffer zones and whether they were needed. The findings have not yet been made public.

The Home Office has been approached for comment.