Minister responds to buffer zone summit criticism

The Women's Health Minister's telling Clyde 1 News campaigners will get the chance to speak at a summit on abortion clinic buffer zones on Monday.

It follows concerns raised about the agenda by campaign group Back Off Scotland.

They are calling for allocated time to share their research and the lived experiences of women who have had to face protestors as they access healthcare services at Scotland's hospitals.

'I fully expect to hear from Back Off Scotland'

Maree Todd said: "I'm really sorry that they feel that way. I would say by its very nature, a summit is a small, focused, invited group of people who we expect every single one of them to contribute to finding a solution to this tough issue that nobody wants to see.

"Nobody wants to see women facing intimidation and harassment as they access health care and everyone who has been invited to the summit is expected to contribute their views to solutions.

"Absolutely there is plenty of time for questions, discussions, observations.

"It's not simply a series of lectures for us to absorb information from experts. These people who have been invited to speak are intended to stimulate debate and I fully expect to hear from Back Off Scotland on Monday."

'There's no space on the agenda for us'

Lucy Grieve from Back off Scotland said: "I think it's interesting that Maree Todd says there's going to be plenty of time for questions, because after she speaks about other aspects of abortion policy, it goes straight into closing remarks.

"We know from what we've seen in the press, that there's an issue with women having to travel to England for abortions, and also telemedical abortion provisions. So it doesn't seem fair that she can update us on that, and we can't pass any comment or you know, suggest anything to prove it, or also actually share the lived experiences of people have had to travel to England. So that's very frustrating.

"But obviously, it's absolutely vital that lived experiences of campaigners and of women that have had to experience protesters when accessing abortion are listened to and I think there's no better place to do that than having an allocated time to present our findings.

'Disgraceful'

"We've heard from hundreds of women that have had to run the gauntlet and that are traumatised by it, and have been you're really, really affected them having to see these protesters. And that's been one of the key things that's been driving forward. T

"The campaign in the media is women very bravely sharing their stories. So I think the fact that there's no allocated space for us to present what we found and give voice to them is frankly, disgraceful."

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