Gillian Mackay, the MSP who created the Scottish buffer zones law, is calling for an extension of the exclusion area around the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow to target more peaceful pro-life activists.
The Glasgow hospital currently has a 200m exclusion zone outlawing all pro-life activity, including prayer, and has already led to a grandmother being arrested and charged by police.
Now, Mackay is calling for an extension of the anti-free speech zone to prevent more pro-life vigils.
“Safe access zones were introduced to protect patients and staff at our hospitals, and, for the most part, that is what they are doing”, Mackay claimed.
“The QEUH in Glasgow has quite unique challenges due to its location compared to other hospitals.
“From the correspondence that I and others have received, there are concerns about the patients and staff having no choice but to pass the protests.”
Mackay’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill, imposed last September, allows for an extension of a buffer zone beyond 200m 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”.
Pensioner and grandmother Rose Docherty was arrested by several police on 19 February after she stood near QEUH with a sign that read, “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.”
Responding to the first arrest under her new law, Mackay thanked Police Scotland and accused the elderly lady of “intimidation”. She warned other Scots considering a similar action “to think again, as they will be stopped and there will be consequences”.
The Scottish buffer zones law might also prohibit prayer inside private residences within such exclusion areas. Mackay, who initially rejected this claim, later admitted that “performative” prayer inside a home might break the law “depending on who passes the window”.
US Vice President JD Vance recently slammed Mackay’s law and the subsequent letter sent to residents inside buffer zones, warning 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”.
“In Britain, and across Europe, free speech I fear is in retreat”, said Vance. “The backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular, in the crosshairs.”
On 24 September 2024, on the day buffer zones came into effect in Scotland, SPUC held a peaceful protest at Holyrood and condemned the law as “an affront to basic freedoms in Scotland”.
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