So-called ‘buffer zones’ around abortion clinics in Scotland came into force legally in September, with the aim of stopping those accessing abortion services from being intimidated by protesters.
This law was controversial among anti-abortion activists and condemned by Christian groups for allegedly making it illegal to pray within the areas designated as buffer zones.
These claims were then picked up by social media accounts based across the world including Christian influencers on TikTok who suggested the new law would mean praying silently inside your house would be illegal.
So theoretically praying silently inside of your own house is now illegal in Scotland.
Isabel Brown, TikTok
Ferret Fact Service looked at this claim and found it False.
Evidence
The issue of how to balance protections for people using abortion services with freedom to protest has been a controversial one in Scotland and the UK.
Scotland’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) was introduced to the Scottish Parliament by Green MSP Gillian Mackay. This means it is illegal to attempt to stop someone from accessing abortion services, within a certain area known as a “safe access zone”. The new law came into force on 24 September 2024.
The rules state, within one of the ‘buffer zones’, you cannot attempt to influence someone’s decision to access, provide or facilitate abortion services, prevent or impede them from doing so, or cause harassment, alarm or distress to someone accessing these services because of their decision to do so.
This legislation was brought in as a response to campaigning by anti-abortion activists, who have regularly held protests outside high profile abortion services such as the Queen Elizabeth university hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow.
In recent years, protests and demonstrations known as “prayer vigils” have taken place. In early 2024, a round of 40-day long protests was organised by Texas-based group 40 Days for Life in locations across Scotland.
When the legislation was announced, and again when it came into force, there were a number of criticisms centring around freedom of expression and freedom to protest.
Much of the criticism of the law has been centred around whether praying, including silent praying, will be criminalised within the buffer zones.
This is because “prayer vigils” have become a central part of the protests outside abortion providers.
40 Days for Life provides demonstrators with a guide for those attending “vigils”.
In it, they state that attendees should “pursue only peaceful, prayerful and lawful solutions to the violence of abortion”.
The Scottish law was picked up by political commentators and influencers in the US, including by Isabel Brown, a TikTok creator who posts content that has a pro-Christian, pro-Donald Trump and anti-abortion stance.
In a video posted on TikTok, she claimed “So theoretically praying silently inside of your own house is now illegal in Scotland”.
Her video references an article in the Daily Telegraph, which was headlined “Praying at home may be illegal under Scots abortion law, campaigners fear”.
This article cites a letter sent to Edinburgh residents, which said that “activities in a private place (such as a house)” within the buffer zone “could be an offence if they can be seen or heard within the zone and are done intentionally or recklessly.”
According to the guidance provided with the law, the only building that is actually part of the “safe access zone” is that of the abortion service itself and its related buildings.
The rest of the zone consists of any public area of the grounds and any other publicly accessible outdoor areas within 200 metres of the abortion service.
However, there is also a section within the law that makes it an offence to influence, prevent access or cause harassment in areas “visible or audible from a safe access zone”.
This means someone in a private home that is within 200m of the abortion service, or near enough to be seen or heard from the safe zone, could still be prosecuted under the law.
According to the law, a visible area “may be an indoor area or a wholly enclosed structure within the safe access zone” such as a residential building or a private garden. It gives an example of someone who displays an anti-abortion sign from their window, which can be seen within a buffer zone.
Anti-abortion activists argued this could mean that silently praying inside would be criminalised under the law.
However, the law states that actions must have the intention of influencing another person’s decision to access abortion services. So praying silently in your own home would not fall foul of the law, unless it was intended to directly (rather than divinely) influence, prevent access or cause harassment to those accessing services.
Prayer in general, within or outwith buffer zones is not made illegal in the legislation.
Ferret Fact Service verdict: False
It is not accurate to state that “praying silently inside of your own house is now illegal” in Scotland. Prayer is not included in the Scottish abortion ‘buffer zones’ bill, and while it is possible to fall foul of the law from within your home, you would have to be attempting to influence, impede or cause harassment to someone accessing abortion services.
Ferret Fact Service (FFS) is a non-partisan fact checker, and signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network fact-checkers’ code of principles.
All the sources used in our checks are publicly available and the FFS fact-checking methodology can be viewed here.
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Main image: George Allison, CC BY-SA 4.0
