This Member’s Bill has been introduced by Gillian Mackay MSP. It creates safe access zones around all places providing abortion services in Scotland.
The Bill makes it an offence for a person in a safe access zone to act in certain ways. This includes any behaviour that might stop a person from getting an abortion or make them feel scared or upset about getting an abortion.
It would also be an offence if a person behaved in these ways in other places, if their behaviour could be seen or heard from the safe access zone. For example, where someone's house is within a safe access zone boundary, they could commit an offence if they do something which could be seen through their window by a person in the safe access zone, and which is meant to try to stop someone from having an abortion or makes them feel scared or upset about getting an abortion.
As with all Bills, the Finance and Public Administration Committee invites written evidence on the estimated financial implications of the Bill as set out in its accompanying Financial Memorandum (FM).
Read the FM for this Bill: Financial Memorandum.
The call for views closed on 20 December 2023.
The Committee received 3 submissions to its call for views. Read the submissions on Citizen Space.
The Committee agreed to forward the submissions received to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee as part of that Committee's consideration of the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill and to take no further action.