SW News: Prominent British pro-life outfits have slammed Scotland’s Safe Access Zones around abortion clinics as “illiberal, discriminatory, and cruel”, adding that activists who champion the cause of the unborn must be given the right to bear witness to their cause in public.

The strong demand was made in a letter addressed to the Scottish First Minister and it was signed by Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, director of March for Life (UK); John Deighan, CEO of Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC); Madeleine Page, CEO of Alliance of Pro-Life Students, Sr Roseann Reddy of the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative; Lois McLatchie, Communications Officer of ADF UK and Margaret Akers, Services Coordinator of SPUC.

In their letter, they said that women must have the right to receive the information and support offered by pro-life supporters. The signatories mentioned how they were able to attend a stakeholder meeting in St Andrew’s House along with lawmaker Gillian MacKay and other officials on Jan. 30 and explain their stand on conducting prayer vigils and campaigns and voice their opposition to Safe Access Zones. But they alleged that they were not given any assurance by the government that it would proactively engage in discussions with them regarding such buffer zones.

The signatories alleged that the government held three summits on such zones so far but no pro-life activists were invited to hear their version of the narrative. The government continues to engage with those who propose Safe Access Zones, they said in the letter.

They reminded the First Minister and his lawmakers that “If you engage with pro-life people, you will discover that pro-life vigils are peaceful, prayerful events that aim to reach women who may not want an abortion, but feel it is their only option.” Such pregnant women are forced to go for an abortion because they do not have any resources.

In the letter, the pro-life outfits cited last year’s BBC poll which found that 15 percent of women in the United Kingdom between the age of 18 and 44 underwent immense pressure to terminate the pregnancy against their wishes. They said pro-life vigils offer these mothers an alternative and provide them with means to help them give birth and raise their children.

“You speak as if the experience of women encountering these vigils is universal – but many women see these vigils as a lifeline. Some have accessed the help offered and gone on to have their children. Others wish there had been a vigil present at the time of their abortion, and now participate in them in order to reach women like them,” they said.