Why John Swinney will not demand White House apology for JD Vance abortion buffer zone comments
The Scottish Greens had demanded the White House make an apology for comments on abortion buffer zone legislation.
John Swinney says he will not call for an apology from the White House for US vice-president JD Vance’s “mistruths” on Scottish abortion buffer zones.
The Scottish Greens had called on the First Minister to officially ask Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to demand an apology from the White House for the comments.
Vice-President Vance claimed people in Scotland had been told private prayer in their own homes was against the law if they lived within an abortion buffer zone, and were being encouraged to report people who were guilty of “thought crimes”.
This legislation means anti-abortion protests cannot take place within 200m of healthcare settings which provide abortion services - but do not ban private prayer within homes.
At First Minister’s Questions on Thursday afternoon, Green co-leader Lorna Slater accused the vice-president of “spreading misinformation” and being “grossly misleading” about Scottish laws.
She said: “The White House manufactures mistruths, tech billionaires profit from them and bad faith actors spread them. Disinformation is playing an increasingly dangerous role in our communities and in global politics.
“Promoting lies and misinformation, at home and abroad, can have serious consequences for all our communities. Friendly countries do not tell lies about each other.”
However, Mr Swinney said the Prime Minister was “well able” to engage with US president Donald Trump without direction from him in Holyrood.
He said: “Obviously the remarks made by the vice-president of the US last week about safe access zones legislation were untrue, they were incorrect.
“The idea that private prayer in an individual’s home is in any way constrained by this legislation is just not correct.”
The First Minister’s comments come after a 74-year-old woman on Wednesday became the first person to be arrested and charged under the abortion buffer zone legislation. She was arrested close to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and charged in connection with breaching the exclusion zone.
Police officers also removed a sign the woman was holding from the area that read “coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want”.
Ms Slater said anti-abortion protesters were becoming “emboldened” by the comments by Vice-President Vance.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.