GREEN MSP Gillian Mackay has urged SNP leadership candidates to speak to her directly about the “nitty-gritty” detail of her Safe Access Zones Bill and put to bed any “uncertainty” over their stance.
Mackay told The National that Kate Forbes, Ash Regan or Humza Yousaf have not had a conversation with her about her private member’s bill which would put a stop to anti-abortion protests being staged in the immediate vicinity of a clinic offering terminations if it was passed.
American anti-choice group 40 Days for Life are currently staging daily demonstrations throughout Lent outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
All three candidates have indicated they are willing to work with Mackay on the bill – which she hopes to lay in Parliament by summer – while Yousaf and Regan have responded to a letter from campaign group Back Off Scotland to say they are supportive of improving abortion care to stop patients having to travel to England for late-stage terminations.
But Mackay said while she is still feeling positive about the bill going forward, she is keen to discuss in detail with candidates any changes they would wish to make as early as possible so Scots are not waiting any longer for buffer zones to be put in place.
She told The National: “Obviously it’s right they [the candidates] are speaking to the members and they’re campaigning for their leadership, but obviously I would welcome a conversation with any of them about the terms in which they’d want to see this [move] forward.
“People have been calling for this for years. They’ve waited long enough and any changes that may or may not be wanted, any good ideas they may have, they need to be looked at quickly and assessed and the impact of that communicated to people who have vested interest in this.
“I don’t know whether any of them would make any changes or not because no one has had that conversation with me yet, so there’s that level of uncertainty there too which I hope, put to bed, will really help campaigners.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had indicated she was in support of the bill prior to her resignation and had spoken at three abortion summits where she reaffirmed commitment to it.
It has also received cross-party support, with some Tory MSPs giving their backing to the legislation ahead of scrutiny.
But there has been some uncertainty about the route forward for abortion care, particularly after Forbes publicly said she opposed the practice.
The Finance Secretary has, however, vowed to defend the right to have one if she becomes FM and has said she will work with Mackay to produce a “balanced and targeted” bill, stressing women accessing abortion care should not be “subjected to fear”.
Mackay has said she doesn’t know what Forbes means by “balanced and targeted” though and is keen to get into the detail.
Asked if she knew what Forbes meant, she added: “No and that’s why I would welcome a conversation with candidates because that detail is the bit that’s important for the bill and any changes anyone would want to make is a conversation I want to have early so that I know what is happening with this bill in three and a half weeks.
“As much as the SNP leadership contest is dominating what’s going on just now, I still have an obligation to deliver on this bill and deliver this policy under the terms that we are already working under. Any change to that, there needs to be time to consider what the ramifications of that are.
“So if any of the candidates want a conversation with me, my door is open.
“It’s nice they’ve said they’ll work with me, that’s lovely, but it’s the nitty-gritty I want to know about.”
Unlike Regan and Yousaf, Forbes has still not responded to the letter from Back Off Scotland which asked if she personally supported buffer zones, expanded second-trimester access and decriminalisation.
Yousaf told the group he is committed to bringing forward abortion decriminalisation proposals by the end of the parliament, while Regan said she was for removing abortion care from criminal law.
Back Off Scotland said the fact it had not heard from Forbes – who has not indicated whether she would extend current rights - was “not good enough”.
Mackay added she would like to see Forbes questioned on whether she would vote for decriminalisation if such a bill came forward.
She said: “I do hope that’s where the Safe Access Zones Bill goes [onto decriminalising abortion eventually], and that we start having that conversation about decriminalisation and keep expanding those rights.
“Kate has offered her personal views on abortion which I fundamentally do not agree with but, she hasn’t expressed views on whether she would support a vote on decimalisation and that’s another question that would be worth getting an answer from her on.
“If that is something that she would support then I think, if she is first minister, then that’s an indication of a way forward.”
