Rose Docherty, 40 Days for Life leader and a 74-year-old grandmother, is the first person in Scotland to be arrested and charged under the buffer zones law introduced in Scotland in September 2024. Police officers told her that she was suspected of holding a “silent vigil” within a buffer zone around Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, one of the largest hospital complexes in Europe. 

Rose held up a sign that said, “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.” 4 police officers charged her, handcuffed her, and drove her away in a police car. The arrest is recorded on camera. To listen to a podcast with Rose from 2016, please click here.

Gillian Mackay MSP who worked to introduce the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill that brought in buffer zones said she was, “Grateful to Police Scotland for acting so quickly… This kind of intimidation has no place in a modern or progressive Scotland.” She warned other Scots “to think again, as they will be stopped and there will be consequences.” 

Scotland now has the most extreme buffer zone law in the world which has already been ridiculed in front of European leaders. JD Vance recently said, “In Britain, and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.” 

The Scottish Government will face extensive international scrutiny for legislation amounting to thoughtcrimes and criminalizing silent prayer. It has already been reported in the Daily Telegraph that JD Vance will raise free speech issues during Starmer’s Washington visit. The Daily Telegraph has already reported an article stating that Britain faces Trump tariffs if it does not ease free speech restrictions, according to Nigel Farage.

We live in very exciting times where the carpet underneath abortion providers, supporters, and politicians can be pulled from beneath their feet in a moment without notification. Now is the time for extreme thoughtcrime legislation to have the ridicule and scrutiny it deserves for its ludicrous Orwellian nature. There is already international horror at the idea of arrests for thoughtcrimes in Britain that have happened multiple times. 

The bill has already been called out on the international stage by JD Vance. Extensive further scrutiny will follow with multiple rounds of viral international media coverage, high-profile court cases, and mass civil disobedience already on display. In short, the buffer zones law is one of the most disastrous and counterproductive acts of legislation ever introduced into British law, already drawing an obscenely unprecedented amount of attention to abortion.

In the book, “Blueprint for Revolution,” Srdja Popovic provides a compelling guide for activists to change the world. He recommends mockery and humor in creative protest. The arrest of a grandmother for silently praying in her head galvanizing viral international media coverage could not be a more apt mockery of the nature of Mackay’s bill introducing thoughtcrimes to law. We can’t have a society where people are arrested for their thoughts. 

The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act came into force in September 2024. Buffer zones prohibit all pro-life activity, and those in breach can be fined £10,000 or more, depending on circumstances. A similar law in England and Wales and another law in Northern Ireland imposes buffer zones of 150 meters. 

The targeting of pro-life Christians has increased in recent years. Many pro-life Christians in the United Kingdom have already been arrested, including Adam Smith-Connor, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, Livia Tossici-Bolt, and Father Sean Gough. Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was also targeted by police for her “mere presence.” 

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance states that silent prayer is not necessarily criminal according to buffer zones legislation, however, actions inside a buffer zone that influence a woman in the context of abortion are. 

An inclusive society relies on the free exchange of ideas, opinions, and viewpoints that others might find objectionable or offensive. Censorship zones violate democratic principles and set an illiberal precedent of government-sponsored public censorship. Censorship zones are draconian because they criminalize citizens for activities that would otherwise be legal. The implementation of censorship zones set a precedent that a pressure group can censor another minority group they disagree with: this is “mob rule” in action.