CAMPAIGNERS have said that long-awaited progress on buffer zones makes it “feel more real” after almost three years of calling for anti-protest sites to be brought in.
Lucy Grieve, one of the co-founders of Back Off Scotland, which has been calling for buffer zones since 2020, told the Holyrood Weekly podcast that Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay lodging the final proposal for the bill in Parliament on Thursday makes it feel more “tangible”.
We previously told how Mackay managed to exceed the required number of signatures from MSPs to lodge her proposal within 30 minutes of FMQs ending.
And now Grieve has told The National’s podcast that the main issue for campaigners is whether or not the legislation will be “expedited” through Holyrood.
The consultation on the proposals gathered more than 12,000 responses, second only to LibDem MSP Liam McArthur’s consultation on assisted dying, which has still not made the committee stage.
Grieve, who dialled in to speak to our political reporters from a trip away in Austria, said she hopes as the bill has the support of the Scottish Government, it will “sort of get pushed to the top”.
Grieve, left, with Alice Murray, right, co-founders of Back Off Scotland
Asked how she feels now that the legislation is starting to pick up some speed, Grieve said: “It's great. It feels really good to be at this stage where we're getting a bit of legislation actually coming to Parliament. It feels a lot more real.
“It's exciting, and I think it's also we can breathe a bit of a sigh of relief about it, because there's now a tangible bit of legislation that's going to stop people being distressed by what they think they are, roadside counsellors, causing untold levels of harm across Scotland.
“So it'll be good to put a stop to that finally.”
The timeline for when the buffer zones will be introduced is now top of the agenda for the campaigners.
During Lent this year, the anti-abortion group 40 Days for Life staged protests outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow and at other clinics throughout the Lent period.
One particular protest, where almost 100 people turn up to take part in “prayer vigils” outside of the QEUH, caused outrage amongst the public.
Grieve added: “I think the main key issue now for us is whether it's going to kind of get expedited through Parliament or wherever it's going to be stuck behind, because I mean, think of all the bills going through, and all the bills are gonna have to come back.
“So that's a slight concern, but hopefully, because the government are supporting it, it'll get sort of pushed to the top.”
Buffer zones would introduce a 150-metre no-protest zone outside of abortion clinics. However, the site of the QEUH is large and expansive, and the legislation may include a floor and ceiling on the distance the zone can be implemented from the boundary of the clinic.
“The only abortion providing space that that 150 metres didn't actually reach was the Queen Elizabeth,” Grieve explained.
“And we know that that's been one of the most targeted if not the most targeted.
“So we wrote in our consultation response to Gillian sort of saying that that would need to be taken into account.
“But I think if you have 150 as the legal minimum, that could work.”
Elsewhere on the Holyrood Weekly podcast, we get an update from Mackay on the final proposal, speak to Douglas Ross about Boris Johnson being found to misled parliament - the Scottish Tory leader previously called him an “honest man” - and the fallout from former first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s arrest and subsequent release without charge.
You can listen to Episode 23 of Holyrood Weekly on our website below, the Omny streaming platform, and Spotify.
