Last week, prosecutors dropped murder charges against a 26-year-old south Texas woman due to an alleged “spontaneous abortion.”
After being imprisoned, Texas lawyers determined that she did not commit a crime. This woman’s case is an example of the lengths red states are willing to go to restrict access to abortion.
Until recently, I looked at this distant country with dismay over the Heartbeat Law, which makes it almost impossible to have a physical abortion.
I was comforted. I thought this would never happen in Scotland.
However, now I and others are becoming more and more fearful as we see the growth of anti-abortion protests in Scotland.
More than 100 anti-abortion protesters gathered outside the maternity ward at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow over the weekend.
Dr Greg Irwin of the hospital said: “This is such an unkind act to a woman who could be having the worst day of her life. She may have lost her baby due to a fetal anomaly, she may have been raped.”
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Buffer zones Scotland: 76 doctors support anti-abortion protests
And now Texas, over 7,000 miles away, doesn’t seem so far away.
“Every year it gets worse.” Dr. Irwin told me, “These protests are following what one might call the Texas game. They were a big success in Texas, and these people are encouraged by the inaction of the government.”
Led by Dr Irwin, a group of 76 Glasgow consultants wrote to Women’s Health Minister Marie Todd, MSP demanding immediate action and advancing the Back Off Scotland group’s call for 150m anti-abortion buffer zones around clinics.
Ms Todd said she would work with chapters, councils and police to deal with ongoing protests, but no action has yet been taken.
Gillian McKay MSP is finalizing the buffer zone bill, but the process could take time that many women don’t have.
The government can’t keep kicking the bucket down the road on this one. With each blow, another woman’s rights are being violated, and more protesters are getting bolder.
The National Buffer Zone Plan must be implemented now before we become Britain’s Lone Star state of abortion rights.