This blog explores the implications of the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act 2024 for people resident within a safe access zone. It outlines the intended purpose of the Act and the offences created by its passage into law, before exploring the potential applications of the Act for private residences within the zones.
What are safe access zones?
The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act 2024 (“the Act”) came into force on 24 September 2024, after passing a Parliamentary vote at Stage 3 by 118 votes to 1. It was introduced as a Member’s Bill by Gillian Mackay MSP, and received support from the Scottish Government.
The Act creates the status of “protected premises” for places where abortion services are provided, and establishes safe access zones around these premises. These zones are intended to ensure that people accessing or providing abortion services can do so without experiencing harassment or intimidation.
Ordinarily, a safe access zone consists of the protected premises, its public grounds, and any other public land within 200 metres of the protected premises. However, the Act includes provisions to extend or reduce the 200-metre radius of a safe access zone if appropriate. A list of current safe access zones, along with maps illustrating the areas, can be found on the Scottish Government website.
What does the Act mean for people who live within a safe access zone?
The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act 2024 creates new offences related to behaviour within a safe access zone, or in an area audible or visible from a safe access zone. Behaviour would be prohibited where a person engages in it with the intention to, or is reckless as to whether the effect is to:
- influence the decision of another person to access, provide, or facilitate the provision of abortion services at the protected premises,
- prevent or impede another person from accessing, providing, or facilitating the provision of abortion services at the protected premises, or
- cause harassment, alarm or distress to another person in connection with the other person’s decision to access, provide, or facilitate the provision of abortion services at the protected premises.
These restrictions also apply to private premises within, or audible or visible from, a safe access zone. Following the introduction of safe access zones, letters were sent by the Scottish Government to residents within the zones, explaining that:
“In general, the offences apply in public places within the Safe Access Zones. However, 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 offence if they can be seen or heard within the Zone and are done intentionally or recklessly.”
As the Scottish Government’s factsheet on safe access zones states, behaviour within a private residence could potentially be considered an offence under the Act if it reflects the prohibited behaviours detailed in the previous section of this blog. The Act would not prohibit private conversations or prayer within a home. However, if such actions are audible or visible from a safe access zone, and are intended to influence a person’s decision to access or provide abortion services, impede access to services, or cause harassment, they could constitute an offence under the Act.
What kind of activities in the home could constitute an offence under the Act?
The Act does not offer a prescriptive list of prohibited activities, as its focus is on the intention behind behaviours conducted within a safe access zone. Police Scotland has stated that each incident reported under the Act would be unique, and would be considered within the context of its own circumstances. However, some of the examples provided by witnesses during the Scottish Parliament’s scrutiny of the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill may offer some useful context regarding actions that could constitute a potential offence within a private residence. During its Stage 1 scrutiny of the Bill, the Health, Social Care, and Sport Committee heard examples including displaying anti-abortion imagery and signage from a window within a safe access zone; distributing anti-abortion leaflets to passers-by from a private home or garden within a safe access zone; and using megaphones or loudspeakers to protest from a private property within a safe access zone.
The Committee explored the potential impact of safe access zones upon private residences and religious institutions during its scrutiny of the Bill. When asked about this issue by Committee Members during a meeting on 19 March 2024, Gillian Mackay MSP said:
“On what happens inside private dwellings or churches, private conversations are not covered under the Bill, as the Minister said. Things would have to happen from those premises that could be heard or seen within the zones, as I am aware that the Committee has heard in evidence.”
This SPICe blog post summarising Parliamentary scrutiny of the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill prior to Stage 3 may provide useful further information.
Sarah Swift
SPICe Research