‘This Is Unjust’: Grandma Arrested Near Scottish Abortion Clinic Warns of Further Attacks on Free Speech

A 74-year-old grandmother who was arrested for holding a sign outside an abortion clinic in Glasgow, Scotland, does not regret her actions and warns about the assault on free speech.

Rose Docherty was the first to be charged under the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act, which bars people from protesting or holding vigils within 656 feet of 30 facilities that offer abortion services, Fox News reported on Saturday.

The outlet noted the law says the zone could be extended if lawmakers deem the action appropriate.

She spoke to BBC Scotland’s Scotcast this week.

Docherty is pushing back against officials’ warnings and says she does not regret her actions that day in February as she held a sign that read “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.”

Docherty said she read the law and acted upon what she believed it permitted her to do, which was offer to listen to anyone who wanted to talk with her. However, to Docherty it appears officials want to silence opposing viewpoints on abortion.

She told the Christian Legal Advocacy Group ADF International:

It wouldn’t matter where we stood –201 meters, or 500 meters away – it seems the authorities would still try to crack down harshly and unfairly on individuals because the government simply disagree with their point of view. This is unjust – of course, there should be laws against harassment, and we all condemn such behavior. But merely offering conversations near a hospital is not a crime.

Docherty affirmed she is prepared to be put in jail over the issue.

Video footage shows the moments police approached her as she stood alone against a fence, holding her sign. It shows they spoke to her briefly, handcuffed her, and led her away, apparently to a police vehicle:

Her arrest came days after Vice President JD Vance highlighted the “thought crime laws” in the United Kingdom, Breitbart News reported on February 21:

The so-called “buffer zone” legislation makes it a criminal offence to attempt to influence women not to get an abortion outside of clinics, with fines of up to £10,000 or potentially limitless fines in supposedly severe cases. It is also an offence to “impede their access; or otherwise cause alarm, harassment or distress.”

The broad language of the law appears to allow police to arrest people for silently praying outside of clinics, which free speech proponents and religious observers have decried as being akin to a “thought crime”.

In a speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany last week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance took aim at the buffer zone laws in the UK, citing them as demonstrations that freedom of speech “is in retreat” in Europe.

Green Party member of Scottish Parliament Gillian Mackay authored the legislation. She later accused the vice president of spreading “shameless misinformation” and “dangerous scaremongering.”

Breitbart News noted that although the government denied issuing letters against praying in homes near abortion clinics, it did send letters to neighbors, stating:

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 done intentionally or recklessly.

“Officials then called on people to report anyone whom they believed to be violating the law,” the article noted.

In May 2021, Breitbart News reported that Scotland’s department of public health said that in 2020 it had the highest abortion rate since records began in 1968 after an increase in at-home chemical abortions.

Months later in August, the outlet reported, “A quarter of all pregnancies in England and Wales end in abortion, according to updated data released Thursday from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).”