Latest news with #BackOffScotland
The National
07-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Would the Scottish buffer zones law pass with Donald Trump in power?
But since the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act came into effect, it has attracted unwanted attention from across the Atlantic following the election of Donald Trump as US President. Earlier this year, Vice President JD Vance used a speech to argue Europe was seeing a shift away from democratic values and cited the buffer zones law as way in which the 'basic liberties of religious Britons' were under threat. In an extraordinary intervention, he falsely claimed the Scottish Government distributed letters to people who live within a zone warning them that private prayer 'may amount to breaking the law'. In a separate incident, the US state department said it would be monitoring the case of a woman being prosecuted for the alleged breach of a zone outside a Bournemouth clinic, adding it was concerned about freedom of expression in the UK. It was even reported after this that there were concerns UK protections for abortion clinics could impact a potential trade deal with the US. All of this has led to a big question: would the buffer zones law in Scotland pass now, given the influence and power of the Trump administration? READ MORE: Scottish Government urged to extend Glasgow hospital buffer zone Lucy Grieve and Alice Murray were possibly more astounded than anyone when Vance began talking about a law that came about partly thanks to a campaign called Back Off Scotland that they started from their university bedrooms in 2020. When The National asked them whether they thought the law would pass through Parliament so easily now, they both felt it still would have got the green light but would have faced stronger pushback. Murray said: 'I think it would still pass but there may have been more challenge. 'I think there is a slight ethos that probably does come from Trump that things were going too far for a while in terms of inclusivity and progressiveness. JD Vance used a speech to criticise the buffer zones law in Scotland (Image: Kirsty Wigglesworth) 'At the moment, there is a bit of sense things were getting out of hand and now we need to pull it back and since that [attitude] does exist [maybe there would be push back], but it just depends whether or not people tied this up with that.' Grieve highlighted that given a huge number of people have come off Twitter/X because of the behaviour and comments of owner Elon Musk – who until the last few weeks was a special US government employee – they may also have struggled to raise awareness of their campaign if the law was going through Parliament now. Grieve said: 'I think it would be maybe more difficult [the passage of the law]. Lots of people have come off Twitter and that was a big way we rallied support. 'That's Elon Musk and his extremism that has made a lot of our supporters go off Twitter, so it could have affected things. 'But I think people are very pro-buffer zones because it's such a precise mechanism of balancing [rights].' (Image: PA) And that's why both Grieve and Murray don't feel people in Scotland should be overly worried about abortion rights going backwards as both of them have confidence that society here is in an entirely different place on abortion compared to the US. Murray said: 'There is a bit more of a basic societal response that abortion is healthcare in the UK and it's not an extra add-on.' There is no doubt certain anti-abortion groups such as 40 Days for Life – which has been regularly staging protests outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow – have felt emboldened by the interventions of the likes of JD Vance. More than 100 people turned out to a protest just outside the hospital's zone last month. But Grieve and Murray are firmly of the belief that a move like the overturning of Roe v Wade in the US – which meant millions of women lost the right to have an abortion – is never going to occur in these islands. READ MORE: Patrick Harvie: It's time for ministers to stop politicking and investigate Trump Grieve said rights have advanced so much now – with Westminster set to consider decriminalising abortion in England and Wales this summer – anti-abortionists are actually defending the 1967 Abortion Act so as to stop them going any further. 'I think people understand America is so far gone in terms of their abortion rights that they never want to end up like that,' Grieve said. 'I think having buffer zones wrapped up in a conversation about trade deals, as it was reported, I think the very large majority would think that is absolutely crazy, and that there is no place for it. 'I think we're in a place where we are winning in terms of strengthening our reproductive rights in Scotland and the UK and they're [anti-abortionists] in a position where instead of saying they want to revoke them, they are now starting to defend the 1967 Act as the basis of our abortion law because they think decriminalisation is too radical. 'Because the vast majority of abortions are provided or funded by the NHS across the UK, you couldn't turn that off overnight like you could with Roe vs Wade. It is seen as vital here, it's not this random outlier.' Murray added: 'We should have a reasonable amount of worry about Donald Trump's power and influence, but when you look at the work that is done on the ground by abortion activists and when you look at all the positive things that are happening, we shouldn't be too scared about a turn in that direction.'
Daily Mail
05-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Women open up about having to travel to a different country for abortions and fork out £1,000s
'It made me feel so dirty, like they just wanted me to get away,' a young woman recalls. Molly, whose name has been changed, was just 19 when she was forced to travel to England after she was denied an abortion in Scotland. Although women have a legal right to an abortion up to 24-weeks pregnant, hospitals in the north-most country do not offer these services up to the limit - with some stopping after 13 weeks. Molly told MailOnline: 'No one said anything about what I should do, no one helped me, no one talked through what was going to happen.' The woman had taken the contraceptive injection so was not expecting doctors to tell her she was expecting when she had gone to see them for her bad back: 'I was in such shock that I threw up on myself.' That same day she went to a sexual health clinic in Glasgow and when the doctors saw on a scan how far she was, they told her they were not able to help. 'Looking back on it I feel angry, I felt like I was backed into a corner.' She packed a bag and flew to London that evening with her recently separated parents. Although women have a legal right to an abortion up to 24 weeks pregnant, hospitals in Scotland do not offer these services up to the limit 'I was one of the lucky ones because my dad was able to pay for our travel and hotel cost but I can't imagine what it would be like if we didn't have that.' The trio however couldn't afford separate rooms, and it was the first time they were all put together since splitting up. Molly's parents paid over £3,000 altogether which was never compensated by NHS Scotland. With morphine for pain after the surgery, Molly had to be wheelchaired through the airport for her flight home. 'It was horrific, everything just happened so quickly'. Five days later, her breasts began lactating milk - 'no one told me this was going to happen'. 'I phoned my mum crying and she went to the pharmacy to buy things to help stop it.' Molly said it would have been better if she could stay in Scotland: 'I was totally let down, no one helped me.' Lucy Grieve, co-founder and director of Back Off Scotland, said it seemed like 'there's a real moral judgement of what is worthy to take place in Scotland with local services'. She believed 'Scotland washes their hands of these women and sends them to England'. The Scottish Government confirmed that only medical abortions were provided - where a woman takes two pills - regardless of the reasons to abort a pregnancy. This is recommended for the first twelve weeks of a pregnancy, which is the case for when around 90 per cent of abortions in Scotland happen. After 13 weeks, a minor operation is required to terminate the pregnancy but there is allegedly only one surgeon in Scotland who is trained to carry out the procedure. Not providing surgical services goes against National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's guidelines that say all women up to 24 weeks should be 'offered a choice between medical or surgical abortion'. A recent FOI from NHS Scotland admitted that there is 'an explicit inequality in service provision' for these women, while Dr Ed Dorman said 'obstetricians and gynaecologists have largely lost the skills to do uterine evacuation which is what we are talking about with later surgical abortions '. 'This means women end up really sick and there have been maternal deaths. I don't think any of the older doctors have done this training for many years so they couldn't really say that they are competent,' Dr Dorman - who treats many of these women crossing the border - added. 'This is where a two-tier abortion service comes into play,' Ms Grieve said. 'There is a judgement call on what we won't do in Scotland for women who want an abortion.' Last year, a record number of women in Scotland were forced to use abortion services in England. Scottish women who are not eligible to have the services in their local hospitals are referred to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), who then direct them to a London clinic in Richmond. The charity said at least 88 patients were forced to cross the border last year to access abortion care - that's one journey every four days. This was 31 per cent higher than the year before of 67 cases and is the largest number of women sent across the border since before the pandemic. In an email exclusively seen by MailOnline, NHS Highland refused to fully cover the cost of sending a patient to England for abortion care after declining to treat them locally, with BPAS picking up the bill. They were disputing why the patient stayed for multiple nights in a hotel last June that cost more than £50 with accommodation organised for a chaperone too. BPAS explained that patients are required to stay for several nights because it is a multi-day treatment at later gestations, an escort is necessary for procedures with general anaesthetic, and that it is extremely unlikely to find suitable accommodation with short notice for under £50 in London. BPAS raised this with the Scottish Government but by December they still had not had their invoice paid yet from the summer. Rachael Clarke, Head of Advocacy at BPAS, said: 'Despite promises that health boards will fully fund women being forced to travel to England, we are still having to pay for some women out of our charitable funds, as otherwise they'd have no choice but to pay for most of their travel and accommodation themselves. 'It's just not reasonable to expect women to come up with hundreds of pounds with a few days' notice to access time-limited healthcare.' Ms Clarke said they have spent thousands supporting women instead of the NHS, with many women paying as much out of pocket because they are not informed that the trip should be fully funded. NHS Highland said that their Patient Travel Schemes 'are not designed to fully reimburse patients for the full cost of travelling to attend an appointment'. Instead, they should 'provide a contribution towards the cost and the rates included within our policy are in line with the Scottish Government guidance'. They added: 'When NHS Highland staff have confirmed the necessity of an escort and the required number of overnight stays, financial contributions are provided in line with our policy for travel and accommodation costs.' NHS Highland said they were undertaking a review of local policies 'with regards to patient travel reimbursement which will also consider National direction and policy'. NHS Highland did cover the cost of one train fare. Ms Grieve said that the women choosing to terminate their pregnancy at later stages are normally 'very vulnerable patients, like girls under 16, drug addicts, women who are homeless or clinically vulnerable'. 'There will be complex reasons as to why they've not sought treatment before', she added. Ms Grieve believes that 'many women will choose to continue with this pregnancy' because of the challenges they might face travelling to England. If they do decide to abort their pregnancy and can not travel, they will have to take the medical option and can be 'labouring for days on end in a labour ward and have to go through a stillbirth while surrounded by newborns'. 'Women should have the choice not to go through that.' This does 'terrible things' to their mental health and can be 'incredibly traumatic', said Ms Grieve. 'It's wrong to force women to give birth to stillborn babies.' BPAS said they have spoken with many doctors who have been advocating for surgical abortions and spoken to the government about starting to provide surgical services. Scotland's Public Health Minister Jenni Minto said: 'Patient safety is always our highest priority, and I completely understand concerns raised by women forced to travel to access abortion services. 'That is why we are working with NHS Boards and other key stakeholders to support women having later stage abortions in Scotland.' Ms Minto confirmed that a short-life working group has been established to consider the available delivery options with NHS Boards. She added: 'The Scottish Government expects the Boards to meet the Healthcare Improvement Scotland's standards relating to abortion as a minimum. 'This means where an NHS Board cannot offer abortion services locally, they must provide an appropriate and person-centred care pathway for patients and support patients with travel and accommodation costs covered if patients do need to travel to England for treatment.'
The National
30-04-2025
- Health
- The National
Campaigners 'concerned' by Scottish buffer zones 'weakness'
The legislation – which started as a member's bill proposed by Green MSP Gillian Mackay – enforced 200m exclusion zones around 30 sites in Scotland in an attempt to limit intimidating protests held outside of clinics. Mackay has repeatedly insisted the legislation is in place 24 hours a day, with the law stating that if an offending act has a 'continuing effect', it 'does not matter' whether any patient is attempting to access services in the zone at the time. But in an email between a police inspector in Glasgow and an MSP, the officer said legal advice from Police Scotland lawyers and the Crown Office concluded the legislation cannot be enforced when clinics are not operating. READ MORE: More than 100 anti-abortion protesters target Glasgow hospital The exchange was sparked after the MSP sought clarity about a protest held outside the Sandyford Clinic in Glasgow by the Scottish Family Party on April 12, which was closed due to it being a Saturday, telling police constituents had been 'understandably distressed' by the protest. Responding, the inspector referenced a similar incident in March at a clinic in Edinburgh, where advice had been sought and officers told the ban could not be enforced and the Crown would not prosecute if the facility was not open. Lucy Grieve, who started the campaign group Back Off Scotland that pressed for the introduction of buffer zones for several years with co-founder Alice Murray, said she feels frustrated a 'point of weakness' has emerged in the law given they had been reassured throughout the passage of the legislation that it was 'the strongest bill in the land'. 'I think a lot of the groups that are protesting when the clinic is closed are just screaming into the void essentially, but I would say it's very frustrating when so many times we heard this bill was so robust, and that's why it was taking so long, that this has been left as a point of weakness,' she told The National. (Image: NQ) 'I'd say it's a lesson for drafting stuff in the future. Certainly the Government and Gillian really reassured us it was going to be the strongest bill in the land so the fact this has been a slip-up is concerning and frustrating.' Grieve (above, left) said given Back Off Scotland had heard a lot of testimony on staff coming across protesters after opening hours when they leave work, she hoped Police Scotland would take this into consideration. Murray (above, right) added: 'I think the worry is they [protesters] see this as a loophole and this spirals into a bigger issue.' READ MORE: Police decline to intervene as anti-abortion group ignores buffer zone Murray also suggested that because the Scottish bill focuses on punishing people based on the impact their actions have on a patient or staff member rather than the specific behaviours of protesters, the law could be 'up for interpretation'. She said: 'If you're seen to be doing behaviour that could intimidate or harass etc, and because it is written in that way, that does leave room for interpretation because if you're saying it's illegal to intimidate or harass, and a protester then says that's impossible when there's no one inside, then that is up for interpretation.' Grieve said despite the concern, complaints to Back Off Scotland had dropped since the law came in and the law has been shown to be effective with it resulting an arrest earlier this year. The law clearly states that a person in a safe access zone is committing an offence if they act with the intention of or are reckless as to whether the act has the effect of: Influencing the decision of another person to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services Preventing or impeding another person from accessing, providing or facilitating the provision of abortion services Causing harassment, alarm or distress to another person in connection with the other person's decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services It goes on to say that if the offending act has a 'continuing effect', it 'does not matter' whether any patient is attempting to access services in the zone at the time. Mackay said earlier this week she would be seeking a meeting with Police Scotland and the Scottish Government on the issue following the 'surprising and disappointing' intervention from police. The Green MSP said the Holyrood committee scrutinising the law discussed proposals that would have limited the operating hours of buffer zones but did not support them and they were not moved or included in the legislation. The Scottish Government has said an act carried out which has an impact within the zone when a clinic is closed, but which could continue to have that impact once services are open, could give rise to an offence. 'However, this will always be a matter for enforcement agencies and will depend on all the facts and circumstances of the case,' a spokesperson went on. There are calls for a buffer zone at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital to be extended beyond 200m after more than 100 protesters gathered just outside the zone earlier this month. Mackay said: "Like most laws, buffer zones were designed to apply all day every day and should be enforced that way. "The committee scrutinising the act took time to consider proposals that would have limited the operating hours of buffer zones but did not support them. These proposals were not moved or included in the legislation. "I am very concerned by Police Scotland's comments on this and am even more concerned that their policy will serve as an invitation for more protesters to target health facilities. "Abortion rights are human rights. I have written to Police Scotland to seek an urgent meeting to discuss the situation and their approach to enforcement." The Scottish Government and Police Scotland have been contacted for further comment.
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
No arrests made under buffer zone legislation amid JD Vance claims
THERE have been no arrests made under new buffer zone legislation in Scotland since the law came into place. The news comes amid false claims from US vice president JD Vance that Scots who pray in their homes could be prosecuted after the recent introduction of buffer zones around Scottish abortion clinics. The buffer zone legislation passed the Scottish Parliament in a historic moment last year, and sees anti-abortion protests within 200m of abortion service providers banned. READ MORE: Buffer zone campaigners warn of Trump's impact on Scotland's abortion rights The law does not prohibit anyone from praying within their own homes, as Vance has claimed. The claim has been debunked by Scottish abortion rights campaigners, with Lucy Grieve, co-founder of Back Off Scotland who launched the campaign to introduce no-protest zones outside of healthcare clinics, dubbing Vance's comments as "frightening" and "unbelievable". Gillian Mackay (Image: PA) Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland's Drivetime show on Friday, Gillian Mackay MSP – who spearheaded the bill in Holyrood – described Vance's "misrepresentation of the law" as "wild". On @BBCRadioScot discussing the shameless misinformation Vice President Vance is spreading about Safe Access Zones in Scotland. Every day I will stand with the millions of people across the US who oppose the misogynistic and anti-choice agenda of @realDonaldTrump and @JDVance🇺🇸 — Gillian Mackay MSP (@GillianMacMSP) February 15, 2025 Reflecting on Vance's claims, Mackay said: "I never expected it but I don't think many people around the world would be particularly surprised given the misogynistic and anti-choice regime that is currently within the White House." Mackay claimed there had been one breach of a buffer zone since the legislation took effect, referring to an incident which took place the day the zones came into force on September 23, 2024. READ MORE: Scotland's abortion clinic buffer zones come into law – here's how it works She added: "[This] means that hundreds of people who previously may have been intimidated or harassed going into appointments aren't anymore. "There are far more people in Scotland who are pleased about that than will take any notice of JD Vance." The National understands that no arrests have been made under the buffer zones legislation. Police Scotland confirmed that on September 24 last year – the day the law came into effect – police were made aware of a small group of protesters at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. They added that officers attended and gave advice before the group left. JD Vance Meanwhile, the Scottish Government said Vance's claim was "incorrect" and that people continue to have the right to protest and to free speech. A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'The Vice President's claim is incorrect. Private prayer at home is not prohibited within Safe Access Zones and no letter has ever suggested it was. 'Safe Access Zones are designed to safeguard a woman's right to access healthcare and protect their right to dignity and respect when they need it most. 'People continue to have the right to protest and to free speech, however, no one has the right to harass women, or to try to influence without consent their decision to access healthcare, or to impede their access to it in any way. 'The Act, passed overwhelmingly by Parliament, has been carefully drafted to capture only intentional or reckless behaviour close to a small number of premises providing abortion services. It does not – and has never been intended to – criminalise any particular action, including silent prayer.'
