Snip of headline reading "Woman, 74, charged under abortion protest law", with a picture of the woman being arrested.

Abortion buffer zone arrests: a fact-check

February 20, 2025

Reproductive Rights

After US Vice-President JD Vance claimed that people were being criminalised for praying in their own homes in Scotland, a first arrest has been made within a buffer zone outside an abortion facility. But what is really going on here?

Arrested for praying at home?

Speaking on Friday 14 February in Munich, the US Vice President JD Vance claimed that the Scottish government had instructed people not to pray within their own homes. He was responding to communication with some residents living within “buffer zones” around abortion facilities in Scotland.

Since last year, it has been illegal to hold protests or vigils influencing or coercing people on their decisions about abortion within these areas. This includes people using their home as a base for protests and vigils designed to attract attention outside that home. Vance inaccurately conflated this with a ban on prayer.

JD Vance speaking at the Malaysia Security Conference. He has dark hair and a beard and makes a point with his hand. He wears a blue suit. — JD VANCE SPEAKINg IN MUNICH THIS MONTH. IMAGE: FREE MALAYSIA TODAY/CREATIVE COMMONS.

Emboldened anti-abortion activists

Vance’s comments have widely been decried as disinformation. But he seems to have spurred some anti-abortion activists into action. On 19 February, a 74-year-old woman and known anti-abortion activist was arrested outside Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. She was holding up a banner opposing abortion.

This protestor was not arrested under the aspect of the law Vance chose to misrepresent. Silent “vigils” within buffer zones intended to coerce or influence people using abortion services will lead to arrest. But it seems far from coincidental that this happened days after Vance’s speech.

A row of anti-abortion protestors outside a hospital in Glasgow.

The bigger picture

Protests like these are not generally conducted by harmless, unattached individuals, although individuals may well be chosen for the appearance of harmlessness. They are generally organised by international evangelical groups such as 40 Days for Life. Many of these groups are based in the USA and draw their funding from across the Atlantic.

These groups have reactionary social agendas that stretch far beyond what happens outside the entrances to abortion clinics. They are rooted in Christian nationalism and vehemently oppose women’s rights and reproductive rights. If you want an idea of what a society run by these groups might look like, a good place to start would be the current policy platform of the Trump/Vance government.

A man in a cowboy hat with rosary beads in his hands holding up a sign reading "Pray to End Abortion. 40 Days for Life." — IMAGE: FLICKR/CC

The facts

Let’s be clear about this. There is no “thought crime” law in Scotland. No-one has been sent a letter telling them to stop praying in their own home. No-one is being criminalised for opposing abortion.

These are pieces of disinformation spread by a hard right US government seeking to export anti-LGBT+, misogynist politics to Scotland and Europe. The politics of this government is a far greater threat to human rights around the world than reproductive rights legislation. And it must be resisted at every turn.

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