Police Scotland has said that buffer zones are not enforceable when abortion facilities are closed. The statement comes after pro-abortion MSP Gillian Mackay suggested they should be enforced at all hours.
Lawyers from Police Scotland and the Crown Office confirmed that Mackay’s buffer zones law cannot be enforced when abortion facilities are closed.
Mackay had reportedly raised the issue with the police after a pro-life vigil outside a Glasgow facility was held when it was closed.
“The intention of my Act has always been for buffer zones to apply all day, every day, like most laws”, said Mackay, who is now seeking a meeting with the Scottish government and Police Scotland.
“Abortion rights are human rights, and both patients and staff should be able to access healthcare without having to pass protesters and banners”, she continued.
The author of the Scottish buffer zones law has also called for an extension of the 200m exclusion area around the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow.
The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill, which came into force last September, permits an extension if deemed proportionate.
A Scottish government spokesperson said that “before taking such a step, it is essential that ministers are satisfied such an extension is appropriate”.
The first person to be arrested under Mackay’s law was a Scottish grandmother who was charged for holding a sign that read, “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want”, outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Under Mackay’s new law, prayer might also be illegal in certain circumstances within a buffer zone. Mackay recently admitted that it could be an offence “depending on who passes the window”.
Buffer zones have received international attention in recent months after several high-profile arrests and guilty verdicts in the UK, which were called out by Vice President JD Vance and the US State Department.
“In Britain, and across Europe, free speech I fear is in retreat”, said Vance, who slammed Mackay’s law for potentially criminalising prayer inside the home.
A letter sent to Scottish residents inside buffer zones warned them that “[pro-life] activities in a private place (such as a house) within the area between the protected premises and the boundary of a Zone could be an offence if they can be seen or heard within the Zone”.
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