Abortion clinic buffer zones to be introduced in Scotland

Following the recent overturning of the landmark US abortion case Roe v Wade, Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has said legislation will be passed to enforce protester buffer zones at abortion clinics in Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon this week gave the support of the Scottish government to a member’s bill protecting access to terminations. Under the proposed legislation there would be a 150m (164 yard) no-go area enforced outside health facilities to ensure that women can access services without fear, harassment or intimidation from protesters.

At a summit in Edinburgh on abortion care, Sturgeon said she supported the bill introduced by Green MSP Gillian Mackay, and that although people were entitled to differing views on abortion, “women should not be intimidated while accessing healthcare”.

Sturgeon commented:

“There’s no doubt in my mind we need to aim for legislation in the long term. But we need to ensure we get the balance of that right so that it would be capable of withstanding any human rights challenge.

There’s further action we can take, working with councils and the police in the short term, to make sure that women do have access to healthcare.

There are different views on abortion – we live in a democracy and people are free to have different views on abortion – but what I don’t think any of us are free to do is to impede women’s right to access healthcare without intimidation and harassment.”

The Edinburgh summit on abortion care followed the recent overturning of Roe v Wade in the US which has now transformed abortion rights across the country, allowing individual states to ban the procedure.

Mackay commented on the impact of the Roe v Wade decision, stating that:

“Here we need to continue to fight for progress. That means buffer zones, telemedical abortion and services safe and accessible for all. There is no place for the type of intimidation and harassment we are regularly seeing outside these healthcare facilities at the moment. Both healthcare staff, and those accessing services, have relayed horrifying stories of the impact this harassment can have.”

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