US vice-president JD Vance was accused of “dangerous scaremongering” after hitting out at Scotland’s abortion buffer zones laws last week.
In a speech at the Munich Security Conference on February 14, Donald Trump’s deputy wrongly claimed that the Scottish legislation meant that “even private prayer within a person’s own home may amount to breaking the law”, further claiming that the Government had urged people to report “any fellow citizens suspected guilty of thought crime”.
The legislation – spearheaded by Scottish Greens MSP Gillian Mackay, who called Vance’s speech “total nonsense and dangerous scaremongering” – passed the Scottish Parliament in a historic moment last year, and sees anti-abortion protests within 200m of abortion service providers banned.
But the law does not prohibit anyone from praying within their own homes, as Vance claimed.
That being said, the comments have certainly been followed with action from Scottish anti-abortion activists.
On Wednesday, the first arrest was made under the legislation, when a 74-year-old woman was charged after allegedly breaching the law outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
Meanwhile, a US anti-abortion group is planning a series of protests outside that same hospital.
The website for 40 Days For Life claims “vigils” will still be held from March 5 until April 13.
Dr Rishita Nandagiri, a lecturer in global health and social medicine at King’s College London, said this shouldn’t be seen as an isolated incident but part of a wider trend amid Donald Trump’s second presidency.
“Abortion is a key plank in right-wing ideologies, and this further politicisation of abortion by attacking policies or laws serves these agendas. It’s part of the anti-gender politics that we are seeing globally – in the US, Hungary, Poland, among other contexts,” the academic told the Sunday National.
“It’s in this context that extremely well-funded groups like ADF and March for Life operate – they are seeking to further these right-wing politics through a combination of legal challenges – for example, challenging public spaces protection orders – and through introducing troubling discourses – ‘freedom of speech’ or ‘thought crimes’.”
Nandagiri said that this is also an attempt to shift the discourse.
“It is no longer about bodily autonomies, rights or healthcare, but about ‘freedom of speech’. These spurious arguments around ‘freedom of speech’ are part of right-wing efforts to foment a ‘culture war’ which only serves to silence and shame abortion-seekers,” she said.
“These tactics heighten abortion stigma – politically, socially and culturally, impacting abortion-seekers and abortion-providers; and society more broadly. Groups like ADF and March for Life are not just challenging things like buffer zones, they’re also actively working with MPs like Nigel Farage to challenge a supposed 'tsunami of censorship in Britain' and suggesting a parliamentary debate on rolling back the current 24-week abortion limit.”
In November last year, the Reform UK leader said Westminster should debate imposing stricter limits on abortion for women, saying the current timeline may need to be shortened to 22 weeks.
The academic added that these “tactics” from anti-abortion groups distract from the “very real” issues around abortion care.
“The conversation becomes about ‘freedom of speech’ and buffer zones, instead of trying to decriminalise abortion in Great Britain – particularly when criminal investigations of suspected illegal abortions are on the rise ,” she said.
Nandagiri added: “Abortion rights cannot be separated from attacks on sexuality, trans rights, migrant rights and sexual and reproductive health more broadly.”
She also said that this should be viewed within the context of “Project 2025” – a hard-right playbook for American government and society that many political analysts in the US have said the Trump administration is increasingly adopting – including its proposal to revive the “Geneva Consensus Declaration” – an anti-abortion international document created and signed by 30 largely illiberal or authoritarian governments in 2020.
“This, alongside the reinstatement of the global gag rule – a regressive policy that restricts US foreign assistance to organisations that provide, counsel or advocate for abortion services in their country, regardless of local laws or any other funding they receive,” Nandagiri added.
“This doesn’t just disrupt services, it has a chilling effect on care, information or advocacy on abortion, leading to a real rollback in rights and in healthcare. This, alongside the slashing of PEPFAR which funds HIV treatment and care globally, will have a catastrophic impact on sexual and reproductive care around the world. Without these funds, the health and lives of millions of people around the world are at risk.”
