A Scottish grandmother has been arrested for the second time and charged with breaching an abortion clinic buffer zone after standing silently with an indication that offered consensual conversations.
Rose Docherty, 75, was detained near Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, for holding a placard that read: “Coercion is against the law, here to speak, only when you want.”
She has been released on bail but was charged under Scotland’s draconian buffer zone law that bans harassment, intimidation, and attempting to influence people inside 200 metres of abortion facilities.
Mrs Docherty was previously arrested in August for peacefully holding her sign outside the identical hospital. The case was dropped after it attracted strong criticism from the US State Department.
Commenting on her latest arrest, Mrs Docherty said, “Everybody has the suitable to have interaction in consensual conversation.
“I held my sign with love and compassion, inviting anyone who wants to talk, to achieve this – and stood peacefully, not approaching anyone.
“I mustn’t be treated as a criminal for inviting people to talk with me – lending a listening ear.
“Conversation shouldn’t be forbidden on the streets of Glasgow. And yet, that is the second time I even have been arrested for doing just that.”
The Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADF), which is supporting her, said she was held in custody for several hours without being offered a chair, despite having had a double hip alternative.
ADF has criticised her bail conditions as “disproportionate” – they ban her from entering an area wider than the actual buffer zone.
“It’s deeply concerning that Scottish policing resources are being ploughed into arresting and prosecuting a peaceful grandmother offering to talk to people in public, fairly than specializing in the issues brought on by real crime in Glasgow,” said Lorcan Price, legal counsel for ADF International.
“This shouldn’t be a case about harassment, intimidation or violent protest – this is solely a grandmother, who held an indication offering to talk to anyone who would love to have interaction.”
The buffer zone law was introduced by Green MSP Gillian Mackay, who was forced to confess earlier this 12 months that prayer inside a personal home inside a buffer zone could potentially fall foul of the law “depending on who’s passing by the window.”
The US State Department has called Mrs Docherty’s second arrest “tyrannical”.
“The arrest of Rose Docherty is one other egregious example of the tyrannical suppression of free speech happening across Europe,” it said in an announcement to The Telegraph.
“When 75-year-old grandmothers are being arrested for standing peacefully and offering conversation, common sense and basic civility are under attack.
“The United States will all the time speak out against these violations of fundamental rights.”
US Vice President JD Vance cited Scotland’s buffer zone law for example of restrictions on free expression in his speech on the Munich Security Conference in February.
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