Pro-life buffer zone residents could face £10,000 fines

Welcome to the land of the unfree – otherwise known as Scotland. John Swinney’s SNP government have laid out its rules for anti-abortionists north of the border, and the measures are even worse than many campaigners first imagined. Buffer zones – in which pro-life activists cannot protest – were introduced at the end of September after MSPs passed the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) bill earlier in the year. And it now turns out that if residents living within these exclusion areas, within 200 metres of abortion clinics, hang protestations in their windows, they could be fined up to £10,000. Golly.

In a letter sent to residents by the SNP government, those living in the buffer zones have been told they must follow the new rules – even when inside their own homes. The notice tells locals that:

In general, the offences apply in public places within the safe-access zones. However, 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.

Crikey. The warning continues, adding that it is an offence to do something that would ‘influence someone’s decision to access, provide or facilitate’ abortions – or ’cause harassment, alarm or distress’ to people attending or staffing the clinics. Anyone found to have broken the rules could be fined ‘up to £10,000 under summary procedure’ – or an unlimited amount if the case is deemed to be more serious. Talk about the long arm of the, er, government, eh?

Scottish Green Gillian Mackay – who proposed the bill in the first place – insisted that the law would ensure people ‘continue to have the right to free speech and protest in a democracy’. Yet anti-abortion SNP MSP John Mason told the Times the letter was ‘not entirely a surprise’, adding: ‘I guess everyone knew when they voted for the act that this would be one of the consequences.’ Mr S has asked the Scottish government for a comment on the matter, but has had no response thus far. So much for the SNP’s openness and transparency, eh?