Members of the Scottish Parliament have introduced a bill that would implement “buffer zones” outside the nation’s abortion facilities. According to the BBC, the bill has cross-party support and its passage is seen as a “near-certainty.”
The proposed legislation, the Abortion Services Safe Access Zones (Scotland) Bill, would create “safe zones” of 150 meters (164 yards) around abortion facilities, limiting pro-life speech and activity within the zones. It received overwhelming support and garnered enough backing to advance in just 30 minutes, something that the bill’s sponsor, Green MSP Gillian Mackay, called “phenomenal.”
Mackay told the BBC that she believes the bill is necessary because it is difficult when abortion-minded women encounter pro-life advocates. “Some of these appointments are traumatic in their nature and take a lot of will to get there in the first place,” she said. “They don’t need any more barriers put in their way and neither should they have to face these barriers. This is not about pitting rights against each other. It’s about allowing people to access healthcare where they need to.”
Mackay suggested pro-lifers should lobby outside the Scottish Parliament instead of “harassing people who are going to express their bodily autonomy and receive health care” — but the point of a pro-life presence on an abortion facility sidewalk isn’t to lobby for change or to harass; it is to show women that alternatives to abortion are available. In many cases, these counselors are able to connect women with pregnancy centers and other resources that will enable them to keep their babies, not kill them. Many women and families have credited sidewalk counselors for saving the lives of their children.
While it is not initially clear what kind of pro-life activity would be prohibited within the buffer zones, free speech and even free thought have been severely restricted elsewhere in the United Kingdom, with some authorities in England going so far as to arrest people for silently praying outside abortion facilities.
This kind of extreme legislation only indicates one thing: abortion advocates want more abortion, valuing access to abortion more than informed consent for women.
