The flyers say the law that came into effect this week prohibiting protesters from coming within 150 metres of abortion clinics is "anti-human".

For the past 25 years, members of religious group Helpers of God's Precious Infants have held a vigil outside the Fertility Control Clinic on Wellington Parade. Members have stood on the street six days a week, holding pamphlets and images of dismembered fetuses.

Fairfax Media reported on Monday that patients were able to enter the building for the first time without being forced to run the gauntlet. Police asked one man, believed to be a founding member of the group, to move on after he was reported praying on the street on Monday afternoon, but the entrance has otherwise been clear this week.

The flyers - titled "Exclusion zones turn pregnancy helpers into criminals" - said the pro-life activists had prevented hundreds of abortions over the years and called on the government to "make laws that protect mothers and their unborn babies".

"Not only is it high time that Parliament came to grips with the injustices of the 2008 Act [which decriminalised abortion], but it should also desist from making criminals out of those who seek to offer help for the mother and baby before the irreparable choice of aborting the baby is made," it said.

The East Melbourne clinic's psychologist, Susie Allanson, said this week was the first time women had not being subjected to intimidation and threats as they tried to access the clinic. In the past there have been ugly clashes between anti-abortion demonstrators and patients and their families outside the high-profile clinic, and in 2001 the centre's security guard was shot dead by a pro-life protester.

Police question a man outside the East Melbourne fertility clinic on Monday. Photo: Penny Stephens

Dr Allanson said residents were fed up with witnessing harassment and confrontations outside the clinic. "Our security guard has had many residents and others stop [this week] to say how great it is that the anti-choice group is gone," she said. "It's a normal health service environment [and] another step away from violence and disrespect towards women."

The new law, introduced by Sex Party MP Fiona Patten last year, makes it illegal for anti-abortion protesters to harass or film people coming or going from abortion clinics, with heavy penalties for those who break the law. Exclusion zones of 150 metres apply to all abortion providers in Victoria.

In a statement earlier this week, the Helpers of God's Precious Infants labelled the Parliament "arrogant" for passing a law that "criminalise[d] peaceful activities".

"It is arrogant for the Victorian Parliament to join with the abortion industry in passing an unconstitutional law to deny pregnant women any knowledge of the type of assistance that is available to them from the Helpers," the group's spokeswoman, Tanya O'Brien, said.