ALL of us have to make choices every day and most of the time we don’t know if we’re making the right one.
But the least we expect is to be able to make those choices without judgment.
For many years, anti-choice protesters have been turning up at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow to try and make women change their minds about having an abortion. They have also become a common sight in Aberdeen and Edinburgh. More than 100 people turned up to a demonstration earlier this month.
They say they are offering charitable help. But what sort of charitable help is holding a sign saying “babies are murdered here”? How are you helping women to see a different path by using a megaphone to exclaim to people that they are “sinners”?
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Many women do not have a choice but to go through with an abortion due to harm that might be done to them if they have the child. Even for those who do choose to go through with one, those decisions are not made on the hoof and have usually been well considered.
No matter what the reason is you are having an abortion, you deserve respect and space to access the healthcare you need.
And it is not just women seeking terminations that go to places like Sandyford in Glasgow and Chalmers in Edinburgh; there are other sexual health services available at both those places. When it comes to the QEUH, the abortion clinic is based in the same place as the maternity ward.
So a woman who is having miscarriage, for example, could see these protesters. A woman who had a miscarriage 10 years ago could see them. A new mum welcoming her child into the world – a moment that should be one of life’s purest and happiest - has to endure seeing them outside the window.
It is time for this to stop. This week, we at The National are showing our support for Gillian Mackay’s Safe Access Zones Bill which, if passed, will make it illegal to protest against abortion in the immediate vicinity of clinic.
Through exclusive interviews with people involved in the campaign against anti-choice protesting, we will lay out how patients and staff are affected daily by demonstrations and how vital the legislation is to give women the freedom they are entitled to.
It’s our bodies. It’s our choice. Give us space.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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