Editorial: ​Vance vindicated about abortion protest zones

​Earlier this year there was much liberal outrage when JD Vance talked about threats to free speech in the UK.

The US vice president told a Munich security conference that censorship by European states is a greater threat to them than Russia. Mr Vance cited the Scottish government for "distributing letters to citizens whose houses lay within so-called safe access zones, warning them that even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law. Naturally, the government urged readers to report any fellow citizen suspected guilty of thought crime”.

As we reported at the time, his comments caused an uproar and were branded "incorrect" by the Scottish government. But his comments were largely fair. He was highlighting something that has spread across the UK, including to Northern Ireland, facilitated by politicians, including at Stormont.

Outside of this newspaper there has been little coverage of the emerging exclusion zones around abortion clinics that stifle protest to protect the feelings of women availing of the facilities.

There is a serious debate to be had about whether or not abortion should be legal in NI, and elsewhere, and if so at what point in the pregnancy. There are also strong arguments to be made that, if abortion is legalised (as it is now in the province on demand, if in the first third of a pregnancy), then it is utterly wrong to allow women attending clinics to be, or to feel, intimidated.

As a newspaper that has been around for 300 years, and knows well the balances that have to be struck around free speech, we understand that. But the abortion protest limits are far too swingeing.

Vice President Vance was right to call it out as an assault on free speech. For all the outrage, now restrictions are in doubt – as we report on page 8 in Scotland. NI should reduce the distance of such zones, which can be up to 250 metres, to only 15 or 20.