Glasgow abortion clinics are expected to be protected by Scotland’s first abortion zones to prevent patients from being bullied by anti-abortion activists.
Nicola Sturgeon, the prime minister, said work is underway to establish whether council officials could use local bylaws to establish buffer zones before Holyrood approves legislation that would authorize them nationally.
Speaking to reporters while organizing a summit in Edinburgh on abortion rights in Scotland, Sturgeon added that the measures would most likely be challenged in court on human rights grounds as they limited the right to protest.
He said the “catastrophic and horrific” decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last Friday to lift the constitutional right to abortion established 50 years ago in Roe v Wade would encourage anti-abortion activists in Scotland and strengthen the case morality to protect abortion rights in Scotland.
“The government will do everything it can to support any council that intends to use the statutes as a test case or on a pilot basis and support them in the inevitable legal challenge they will face,” he said.
Glasgow clinics offering sexual and reproductive health advice and services have been the focus of regular and long-running protests by abortion activists, partly funded and supported by American groups, and with the support of John Mason, an MSP of the SNP.
Doctors at Glasgow’s Sandyford Center, which also supports rape survivors, recently complained that the protests were abusive and intimidating. Some protesters carried body cameras and carried placards accusing the practitioners of murder.
The Scottish government and council leaders have been accused by opposition parties and medical professionals of not acting quickly enough to protect providers. In April, 76 doctors at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, also the center of anti-abortion protests, wrote to Health Minister Maree Todd, urging her to “show courage” and take action.
Todd told reporters Monday that Glasgow was an obvious location for a buffer zone test case. “Glasgow is where much of the problem lies,” he said.
Sturgeon then confirmed that the Scottish government was investigating whether to support the bill of a private member of a Scottish Green MSP, Gillian Mackay, to introduce 150-meter-wide buffer zones around abortion clinics.
He said he “firmly believed” that the legislation was the right long-term solution, but supporters of the measure had to recognize that buffer zones could violate the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of expression. Ministers were waiting for the UK Supreme Court to rule on a Northern Ireland case next month, to see if this clarifies the legal situation.