Image – Wikimedia Commons: Scottish Green Party Logo
The Scottish Green Party is once again the subject of ridicule as former minister, Patrick Harvie, has proposed what critics describe as “totalitarian” plans to introduce abortion clinic-style buffer zones around locations where assisted suicide could take place.
The Glasgow MSP has tabled an amendment to the assisted suicide Bill at Holyrood that would give ministers the power to create so-called “safe access zones.” Under the proposal, it would become a criminal offence to impede, harass, alarm, distress, or influence a person seeking to end their own life. The idea draws on legislation brought forward last year by Green MSP Gillian Mackay, which created protest-free zones around abortion clinics and hospitals (which, unlike in England & Wales, polices private residences).
Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing, described the amendment as “draconian and dangerous,” warning that it could lead to the creation of “censorship zones” across Scotland. He pointed to evidence from Oregon in the United States, where 80 per cent of assisted suicides take place at home, suggesting that a similar approach in Scotland could, in theory, extend 200 metres around the homes of most patients.
“Family members, doctors, priests, or anyone else who in any way seeks to influence the patient not to take their own life risks being criminalised,” he said. “A priest could be prevented from giving the last rites, a church nearby might be unable to hold a public meeting about assisted suicide, or a GP surgery could be told to remove a Samaritans poster from the notice board. It could even mean that a family member showing distress might be accused of interference.”
He added that there has been no evidence of harassment or obstruction of people seeking assisted suicide anywhere in the world, making the proposal appear unnecessary and extreme.
Liam McArthur, the Liberal Democrat MSP who introduced the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill, said he was “sceptical” about Mr Harvie’s amendment. “It is difficult to see how this would replicate what we have seen with abortion clinics when most people who choose an assisted death are likely to do so at home,” he said.
Mr Harvie defended his proposal as a safeguard against potential intimidation but confirmed that he would decide whether to press it to a vote after further discussion.
SPUC thinks the amendment is ludicrous, but we are glad that the backlash against it, even from Liam McArthur, has been so quick and so ridiculing. Still, it confuses us as to why the same backlash did not exist with abortion buffer zones as the objections to each are the same. The Scottish Green Party are gaining a track record for silencing those who want to speak about life, but we will never bow down to the culture of death.
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