Grandmother arrested for holding sign outside Scottish hospital performing abortions

Scottish police arrested a 74-year-old grandmother on Thursday for offering conversation to women contemplating abortions because she was in a so-called buffer zone, which criminalizes pro-life speech.

Just days after Vice President JD Vance warned European leaders about rising censorship at the Munich Security Conference, Rose Docherty was arrested in Glasgow, Scotland near the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for holding a sign that said: “Coercion is a crime, here to talk if you want.”

Docherty was the first person to be arrested and charged under The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act, which went into effect in September 2024, the BBC reported.

The law prohibits any protests or vigils from taking place within 200m or 656ft of 30 clinics offering abortion services in Scotland, but the law specifies that the Safe Access Zone could be extended if considered appropriate.

“Everyone has the right to a consensual conversation,” Docherty said. “I simply made myself available for a chat, should anybody like to approach me and speak about any matter on their mind. I didn’t breach the rules of the buffer zone – I didn’t harass, intimidate, or even seek to influence anyone. I simply stood there, available to speak with love and compassion.”

“It isn’t right to deprive anyone of the right to take up my offer to talk,” she added. “And it isn’t right to censor zones within our country from thoughts, beliefs and conversations that authorities may simply disapprove of. Buffer zones aren’t ‘pro-choice’ – they deprive women of the choice to have a chat outside the clinic. That isn’t right.”

When reached for comment, Police Scotland directed Fox News Digital to its public release regarding the arrest. 

“We were made aware of a group of protesters having gathered in the Hardgate Road area of Glasgow around 2.05pm on Wednesday, 19 February, 2025,” the statement said. “Officers attended and a 74-year-old woman was arrested and charged in connection with breach of the exclusion zone. She will be reported to the Procurator Fiscal.”

England and Wales have a similar version of the law that criminalizes the act of “influencing” someone’s decision to “access” abortion services within 150 meters, or almost 500 feet, of any abortion facility. The United Kingdom expanded its so-called “buffer zone” law to apply to the area around every abortion facility nationwide starting Oct. 31.

The move is an attempt to stop the harassment of patients seeking abortions, but critics and pro-life activists argue the laws are an affront to free speech.

“It’s devastating to see an innocent, 74-year-old woman handcuffed and arrested just for offering a consensual conversation,” Lois McLatchie Miller, a Scottish spokesperson for Alliance Defending Freedom International, told Fox News Digital. “JD Vance was right to raise concerns – free speech has been eroded in Scotland to a worrying extent.”

“In Scotland and across the UK, authorities have been over-zealous in using ‘buffer zone’ laws to prosecute people just for their thoughts, or for standing peacefully,” she added. “The government should clarify at once that silent prayer, and consensual conversation, are not crimes.”

Last week, Vance spoke about the Safe Access Zones Act, in which he said people who live within safe access zones had been sent letters by the Scottish government warning them about praying within their homes. The Scottish government said no letters were sent telling people they couldn’t pray in their homes and instead explained that only “intentional or reckless behavior” was covered by the act, the BBC reported.

But, McLatchie Miller said prohibitions of the Scottish buffer zone law even extend inside people’s homes, if they live within 200 meters of an abortion facility. A letter sent to residents explains that the law, in general, applies to public places within the area, but can also apply to “activities in a private place (such as a house) within the area between the protected premises and the boundary of a Zone could be an offense if they can be seen or heard within the Zone and are done intentionally or recklessly.”

“That means, if someone was to ‘recklessly’ influence someone’s decision about abortion from inside their house, they could be committing a crime,” she added. “Scottish authorities sent letters to local residents to warn them of this.”

“Could it be considered ‘reckless’ to pray by an open window? What about having a conversation about abortion in your garden while people pass by?” she asked. “If someone claims to be ’influenced’ by such behavior, this innocent expression of speech or faith could be unjustly snagged under the law.”

Authorities can impose fines of up to £10,000 ($12,600) “or be given an unlimited fine, depending on the court procedure” for anyone who is found to have breached a Safe Access Zone, according to the Scottish government. Citizens can also report a group or individual they believe to be breaking the law by contacting Police Scotland, who are responsible for enforcing Safe Access Zones. 

Scottish Greens spokesperson for health, Gillian Mackay MSP, who spearheaded the law, told Fox News Digital that nobody should feel intimidated when accessing healthcare. She also said she is proud that the law has put an end to “protests, graphic banners and unnerving spectating that people were forced to pass to enter hospitals.”

“There is harmful misinformation being peddled both in and out of US political spheres that shows how little these critics know about the Act, or it is part of their fear-mongering agenda to misrepresent it,” she said. “Nobody is being prosecuted for their thoughts or for praying in their home as the Vice President claimed. For senior politicians to pretend otherwise is plainly ridiculous and dangerous.”

“Abortion rights are human rights,” she added to Fox News Digital. “Every individual in Scotland has the right to privacy in terms of their healthcare, and my Act ensures they are protected and their privacy is maintained when accessing these services.”

Mackay also claimed that the U.S. government is a “clear threat” to reproductive rights. 

“Today and every day I will stand with the millions of people across the US who oppose the misogynistic and anti-choice agenda of Donald Trump and JD Vance,” she added. 

Notably, Docherty was offering conversation in her personal capacity on the day she was arrested, but she serves as a leader in the Scottish chapter of the pro-life 40 Days for Life organization. Shawn Carney, the president of the organization, told Fox News Digital that unlike buffer zones in the U.S., where a small area around an abortion clinic is off limits to demonstrators, in the UK, you can’t have a pro-life opinion and stand in a restricted area. 

“We’re in 64 countries around the world, and we have more free speech in Berlin and Moscow and China than we do in Glasgow or London,” he said. “That is a fact from our experience.”

“It’s your country, you can ban whoever you want,” he added. “You can just say: ‘You’re not allowed in the public square,’ but you can’t say that and say that you support free speech. So don’t say that you’re for free speech, you’re not because you don’t allow it. And so that’s my issue with them, they run around as if they’re heroes, patting themselves on the back, and they’re an embarrassment to the West.”