THE Scottish Government has scrapped the ministerial working group on buffer zones, despite Scotland lagging behind the rest of the UK on bringing in legislation to prevent protests outside healthcare settings.
In an email sent to members of the group yesterday, a Scottish Government official said that there was “limited benefit at this stage” in representatives of affected Councils and Health Boards meeting as ministers were “seeking to bring forward legislation as quickly as possible.”
One member of the group told The Herald she was worried the decision would lead to more delay.
READ MORE: Local authorities did not provide alternative voice to abortion group
Deena Tissera, a Labour councillor from Aberdeen, said: “We have been at this for some 10 months now and still we are not at the stage of legislation being in force.
“Scotland is behind England and incredibly behind Northern Ireland on Abortion safety zones.
“The Scottish government need to stop the dither, stop the delay and move this legislation at pace through the Scottish Parliament.”
Lucy Grieve from the Back Off Scotland campaign group said the decision was "ill-thought-out and premature."
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She added: "Not only were campaigning groups like ours - who represent the lived experiences of those affected by the protests - frozen out of this group, we’ve also been kept in the dark about the working timeline of the Bill.
"It’s regretful that Scotland is now the only UK nation to not have passed buffer zone legislation and not offer women and staff protection from harassment when accessing healthcare.
"The delay in this legislation has nothing to do with carefully crafting a bill – there is no drafted bill, and even if there was there is a clear precedent set by bills passed in other legislatures – it is solely due to a lack of leadership on the issue by decision-makers who have had the power to make real change on this since 2020 but have sat on their hands.”
Earlier this year, the Commons voted to introduce the protest free spaces in England and Wales, and last December, the supreme court ruled that Northern Ireland could go ahead with similar plans without interfering with EHRC rights.
Demonstrations from anti-abortion campaigners ramped up over easter, with hundreds gathering outside hospitals, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow.
Green MSP Gillian Mackay is currently trying to get her Holyrood member’s bill establishing “safe access zones” through Holyrood.
If passed it would stop protesters demonstrate within 150m of a healthcare setting clinic.
Recently, First Minister Humza Yousaf insisted the government was “going to do everything we possibly can to bring safe access zones to our abortion clinics as soon as we possibly can.”
In their email, the Scottish Government official tells members of the working group that the devolved administration is “committed to ensuring patients and staff do not feel harassed or intimidated in accessing abortion services.”
They go on to say that the SNP-Green government “has committed to supporting Gillian Mackay MSP with the development and drafting of her Bill.”
The civil servant adds: “Given that the work on Gillian Mackay’s members' bill continues at pace as we are seeking to bring forward legislation as quickly as possible and the Bill team have been having bilateral discussions and contact with you or your organisations instead, we are proposing that the Ministerial Working Group does not need to continue to meet.”
The email said ministers and officials would be happy to meet with members of the working group, but that there was “probably limited benefit at this stage in continuing to meet as a group.”
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Councillor Tissera said she was worried that the Scottish government abandoning the working group will mean further dither and further delay. “It is now imperative that Scotland falls into line with the rest of the UK by introducing abortion safe zones sooner rather than later.”
Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine said she was disappointed by the decision.
"For years the Scottish Government has dragged its feet on making sure that women who may be going through a traumatic experience are protected from emotional and physical harassment.
"As a result we now do much less to support women than in the rest of the UK.
“The proposals in Gillian Mackay’s member’s bill should be the base camp, not the summit of our ambition when it comes to protecting and expanding women’s reproductive rights."
Ms Mackay said the working group had "played an important role at the start of the process" and that she was "very grateful for the work that they have done to help in building a consensus for safe access zones and to support my Bill."
The Green MSP said: "I will be publishing the consultation analysis in the weeks ahead and will introduce the final proposal shortly afterwards. I am committed to introducing buffer zones as soon as possible and ending the harassment and intimidation that far too many people have faced for far too long."
Women’s Health Minister Jenni Minto said: “The Ministerial working group was formed in November 2021 to consider short, medium and long term actions to address anti-abortion activities which take place outside of healthcare facilities providing abortion services.
"We are clear that delivering national legislation is best and most secure route to ensure buffer zones are delivered and sustained.
“A significant proportion of the group’s work was considering the use of Local Authority bye-laws to potentially deliver the zones.
"That work has concluded, and we are now fully focused on supporting the drafting and development of Gillian Mackay MSP’s national Abortion Service Safe Access Zones (Scotland) Bill.
"We will continue to take forward discussions with stakeholders to ensure that robust and effective legislation is introduced as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, minutes of the meeting of the group in October - due to be published on Friday - reveal that the Scottish Government dropped plans for mediation between the groups as they felt there "was very limited opportunity" for it to be successful.
Last April, the Public Contracts Scotland website revealed details of a £10,000 tender awarded to the Centre for Good Relation in Kinghorn for “civic mediation service to support dialogue between parties who hold vigils and protests outside of abortion clinics, and those who are affected by them.”
After uncovering the contract, Back Off Scotland tweeted: “WHAT??? @scotgov now spending 10k to get protestors to meet those affected by the protests. You’ve got to be joking!!"
Consultants from the Centre for Good Relations first called for the engagement “with all interested parties."
According to the details published online, they were the only company to tender for the contract.
The minutes note that after an update from the centre in August, "it was decided that the scoping exercise would be concluded."
"It was felt that, while stakeholder engagement was important, there was very limited opportunity to deliver successful mediation."
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