MSP Gillian MacKay has launched a public consultation on her member’s “buffer zones” bill that seeks to outlaw pro-life activity and vigils around abortion facilities in Scotland. SPUC has promised “swift action” and mobilisation of its supporters in response to the consultation. “Mothers, unborn babies and their families are counting on us”, said a SPUC spokesperson.

Today, MSP Gillian MacKay launches a public consultation on buffer zones in Scotland. Her bill, the subject of the consultation, seeks to criminalise pro-life activity, including peaceful vigils, around facilities in Scotland where abortions take place.

Advancing her bill, MacKay defined pro-life interventions and vigils outside such facilities as “protests” where mothers, she claimed, are “harassed” before abortions.

“I think we’re now beyond the stage where we can even call these protests peaceful”, said MacKay. “We know they cause intimidation. We know they cause harm to people who are accessing the services.”

In response, SPUC has pointed out that such vigils are “loving acts” that offer vulnerable mothers “a way out for themselves and their unborn children”.

Increasing calls for buffer zones around the UK

In recent years, pro-lifers have received increasing defamation from pro-abortion politicians, activists and journalists who have mischaracterised pro-life vigils as “harassment” and even “emotional violence”. Calls for buffer zones around the UK have increased.

But in 2018, a Home Office review concluded that “aggressive activities” were “not the norm” around abortion facilities. Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary at the time, concluded that “introducing national buffer zones would not be a proportionate response”.

SPUC has also reported on the truth about such vigils and the dishonesty of pro-abortion reporters who “cannot resist misrepresenting prayer vigils when it suits their pro-abortion agenda” – see SPUC’s blogpost, "Extraordinary misrepresentation of anti-abortion prayer vigil outside London clinic."

Persecuting pro-life activity in Scotland

Last month, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon herself misconstrued pro-life vigils as intimidation, as reported by SPUC. “I condemn, and I will do so in the strongest possible terms, any attempts to intimidate women as they choose to access abortion services”, she said.

Earlier this year, the Scottish Government sought to recruit a senior civil servant to “work on legislation on buffer zones, managing the shadow Bill team to enable the Scottish Government to respond appropriately to the planned member’s bill on this subject”, also reported by SPUC

Until recently, efforts to introduce buffer zones in Scotland have taken place on a local level. But last year, a QC said council buffer zones were unlawful in Scotland. A Scottish Government spokesperson said that it would continue “to explore every avenue that is available” to stop pro-life activity.

We must all reject buffer zones with full voice

SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), said: “The vast majority of pro-life activity around abortion facilities is intended to offer vulnerable mothers, many of whom feel coerced into abortion, a way out for themselves and their unborn children.

“As Andrew Boff, a Conservative Member of the London Assembly, recently pointed out, such vigils ‘are coming from a position of love, of love for human life… showing that there is an alternative…'

“Mr Boff continued: ‘To ban people from showing an alternate way, when the worst possible outcome of their activity might be that a child lives that otherwise would not live, I think is outrageous, quite frankly.’

“Abortion vigils are indeed loving acts. To define them otherwise is wholly wrong and disingenuous.

“Gillian MacKay’s member’s bill follows a dirge of false reporting on pro-life vigils. Ultimately, propaganda from media sources, politicians and activists has sought to smear pro-lifers as harassers to further a pro-abortion, anti-free speech agenda that ultimately leads to more abortion and more heartbroken mothers and fathers.

“It is vital that we do not allow pro-abortion untruths to win the day. Our supporters can expect swift action from SPUC. We will soon release guidance on how to respond to this public consultation.

“We must all join now and take action to reject buffer zones in Scotland with full voice. Mothers, unborn babies and their families are counting on us.”