JD Vance free speech UK: Architect of Scottish law concedes praying at home in abortion protest buffer zone could be a crime 'depending on who’s passing the window'
The architect of the ban on protests at Scottish abortion clinics has conceded some credibility to claims by US Vice President JD Vance that residents in such zones could commit a crime by praying in their home.
Last month Vance caused outrage when he told the Munich Security Conference that censorship by European states is a greater threat to them than Russia.
Criticising protest buffer zones around UK abortion clinics, he said the Scottish government had been "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”.
His comments caused outrage and were branded "incorrect" by the Scottish Government. However some claimed that he had a point.
The actual letter distributed by the Scottish Government to residents warned that "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 and are done intentionally or recklessly.”
The letter added: "You can report a group or individual that you think is breaking the law by contacting police Scotland at https://www.scotland.police.uk/secureforms/c3."
Now, the architect of the Scottish buffer zone law, Scottish Greens health spokesperson Gillian Mackay, has conceded that praying at home inside a buffer zone could be a crime “depending on who’s passing the window”.
Ms Mackay claimed that Mr Vance was talking “absolute nonsense” about her law, but conceded that someone could be prosecuted for praying “performatively” at a window within their own homes inside a buffer zone.
However, she maintained that Mr Vance was wrong because “I don’t know anyone who can pray loudly or performatively enough to be seen outside their own house”.
Christian Institute spokesman Simon Calvert said he was concerned about the MSP's attitude to private prayer.
“Gillian Mackay’s careless comments suggest she is quite content for the legality of harmless, private prayer in your own home to be put at risk," he told the News Letter. “Basic religious freedoms must not be trampled on as collateral damage in the pro-abortion culture wars.”
Asked to clarify the position, a Scottish Government spokesman told the News Letter that behaviour "could be an offence" in a private place within a zone if it is "public-facing, and could, either through intention or recklessness, influence someone’s decision to access abortion services".
Last week, the first person was arrested and charged under the new Scottish law. Rose Docherty, 74, was handcuffed and placed in a police car after standing in a Glasgow buffer zone with a sign offering to talk.
In recent weeks an American student midwife in Scotland was suspended after sharing the official guidance on conscientious objection and her pro-life position on a private Facebook site for student midwives. Edinburgh Napier University suspended her from a placement with NHS Fife, however she has now been reinstated after a fitness to practice investigation found she had no case to answer.
Meanwhile, nurse Sandie Peggie has taken NHS Fife to an employment tribunal because it requires her to use the same changing room as a male-born doctor who identifies as female.