JD Vance abortion buffer zone comments branded ‘dangerous’ by MSP

The American vice-president JD Vance has been accused of “spreading misinformation” about buffer zones at abortion clinics in Scotland.

In a speech on the the Munich Safety Convention Vance claimed individuals who stay inside protected entry zones had been despatched letters by the Scottish authorities warning them about praying inside their properties.

The Protected Entry Zones Act got here into drive final September and prevents protestors gathering inside 200m (656ft) of clinics that carry out abortions.

A Scottish authorities spokesperson mentioned no letters had been despatched out, and solely “intentional or reckless behaviour” was coated by the act.

Inexperienced MSP Gillian Mackay, who drew up the legislation, mentioned Vance’s claims have been “nonsense” and added that personal prayer at house had by no means been impacted.

She mentioned: “That is stunning and shameless misinformation from VP Vance, who’s both very badly knowledgeable about what my Act has executed or he’s knowingly misrepresenting it.

“He is among the strongest folks on the planet however he’s peddling whole nonsense and harmful scaremongering.”

Vance’s speech criticised Europe for not defending free speech sufficient, saying that it was “in retreat”.

He cited the case of a person in Bournemouth who was convicted of breaching a protected zone after praying outdoors an abortion centre and refusing to maneuver on.

The vice-president then added: “I want I may say that this was a fluke, a one-off, loopy instance of a badly written legislation being enacted towards a single particular person.

“However no. This final October, only a few months in the past, the Scottish authorities started distributing letters to residents whose homes lay inside so-called protected entry zones, warning them that even non-public prayer inside their very own properties could quantity to breaking the legislation.”

Vance then claimed the federal government had urged folks to report folks “responsible of thought crime”.

The Scottish authorities mentioned Vance was “incorrect” together with his feedback, which have been beforehand unfold by Christian influencers on TikTok final yr.

A spokesperson mentioned: “Personal prayer at house is just not prohibited inside protected entry zones and no letter has ever recommended it was.

“Protected Entry Zones are designed to safeguard a girl’s proper to entry healthcare and defend their proper to dignity and respect once they want it most.

“Folks proceed to have the suitable to protest and to free speech, nonetheless, nobody has the suitable to harass girls, or to attempt to affect with out consent their determination to entry healthcare, or to impede their entry to it in any method.

“The Act, handed overwhelmingly by Parliament, has been rigorously drafted to seize solely intentional or reckless behaviour near a small variety of premises offering abortion providers. It doesn’t – and has by no means been meant to – criminalise any specific motion, together with silent prayer.”

Vance, who was a enterprise capitalist earlier than turning to politics, transformed to Catholicism in 2019.

In 2022 he known as for a nationwide ban in America on abortion, suggesting that even in instances of rape or incest “two wrongs do not make a proper”.

Final yr he altered his view and mentioned it was a matter for particular person states to determine upon.

He has beforehand been criticised for making claims with out proof, together with repeatedly saying through the election marketing campaign final yr that migrants have been consuming pets in an Ohio city.

There are entry zones at 30 well being amenities round Scotland, together with on the Queen Elizabeth College Hospital in Glasgow, the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh and Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital.

Inside the buffer zones, it’s a prison offence to behave in ways in which may affect the selections of girls and workers to entry providers.

The invoice was introduced in after numerous anti-abortion teams regularly protested close to abortion amenities, together with American organisation 40 Days For Life.