Chamber and committees

I will call Johanna Irvine in on that.

I heard Dr Catriona McMillan giving her evidence. Clearly, the gaining of evidence is exactly what should be happening in this committee, and I am very happy to consider it all. I look forward to reading the committee’s stage 1 report on the bill.

When we were constructing the bill, we got evidence from and consulted many stakeholders. We have also taken a lot of evidence from Gillian Mackay’s consultation. I think that we are being very specific about areas where we are creating abortion safe zones. As I said before, there will be 30 facilities with a 200m zone around them. That is proportionate.

The other element is section 8 of the ECHR, which deals with privacy; there is a need to ensure that women have privacy to access abortion services in the right manner.

Police Scotland will provide training for its officers. As the discussion has highlighted, this is a tricky area and we have to make sure that we get it right. As I have said before, the important thing is that we ensure that women who are accessing the services can do so safely and without impediment, alarm or distress. I should also note that Police Scotland is independent of Government.

When we were constructing the bill, we acknowledged that there would be examples such as you have given—that is, that there could be new hospitals and that locations could change. We wanted to ensure the right speed of response so that the new buildings could be captured and so that a zone could be reduced, if necessary, if a location changed or stopped providing services. We felt that there was a need for a prompt response. However, I know that there has been a lot of discussion, concern and input into the consultation on that point. I would be interested to read the committee’s stage 1 report regarding the views that you have gathered on increasing or decreasing the size of zones.

I would be very surprised if there was not a consultation, because the legislation currently deals with places that provide abortions under the Abortion Act 1967. If there was a change there, we would need to consult on it.

Again, I say that I have heard both sides. It is important to show where zones start and finish but, as you have said, there is a point to be made about shining a beacon on where services are provided. We have spoken to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities about that and we will, as the bill progresses, continue to discuss what we think is appropriate.

Hospitals will be required to have a map on their website showing exactly where the zones are. That is a really important way of publicising them that will ensure that everyone has consistent information.

We are still discussing signage. Again, I am interested to hear what proposals the committee makes in its report.

Yes. We have said that the zone is 200m.

I think that legislation needs to be reviewed, so I am interested to hear how committee responds to that in its report.

It is difficult to get inside the thoughts and views of a woman who is accessing abortion services. I want to ensure that they can do that as safely as possible, avoiding the demonstrations that are specifically directed at them at a time of, I am sure, great stress and emotion. That is what the bill sets out.