Abortion Service Safe Access Zones (Scotland) Bill: equality impact assessment

Recommendations and Conclusions

The Scottish Government has assessed the potential impact of the provisions contained within the Bill on equal opportunities and has determined that they do not unlawfully directly discriminate with respect to any of the protected characteristics (including age, disability, sex, pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief, marriage, or civil partnership).

However, the evidence collected during the development of the Bill points to a tension between service users rights to access healthcare free from unwanted influence, intimidation, and harassment, versus the rights of individuals who choose to participate in anti-abortion activity outside of premises that provide abortion services.

This tension cannot be wholly resolved, and it is acknowledged that there will be a limited negative impact on those whose faith or religion plays a part in whether or how they participate in anti-abortion activities. Nonetheless, those using and providing abortion services have a right to access premises providing abortion services without fear or harassment, and the Bill will protect these rights through the establishment of safe access zones.

The Bill may have a negative impact on individuals who, for religious reasons, take part in anti-abortion activity outside of premises that provide abortion services, however, and as outlined above, the Scottish Government’s position is that that there are mitigations in place to ensure that the restrictions apply in clearly defined areas. As set out in greater detail in the Policy Memorandum, the aim of the Bill is not to prevent the expression of opposition to the provision of abortion services or restrict the expression of religious views on abortion. It is only to prevent their expression in limited areas to the extent necessary to achieve the overarching aims of the legislation. The Bill creates areas where activities are restricted and subject to criminal sanction. It does not prohibit all protests and does not remove the ability to protest or make known views on abortion. It creates safe access zones which will encompass the premises providing abortion services, the attaching grounds if there are any, and a zone of 200m (also the public area) extending in all directions from the edge of the protected premises. The zones are designed to ensure that service users and providers are adequately protected by anti-abortion activity from occurring outside of premises providing abortion services whilst not being unduly restrictive on those who choose to participate in anti-abortion activity. By prohibiting anti-abortion activity only within the confines of safe access zones, the Bill aims to ensure that the rights of those to engage in anti-abortion activities is only limited when balanced against the rights of services users and providers to access and provide services. This limited infringement on the rights of individuals is not targeted at age or any other protected characteristic, but rather preventing harms which are associated with anti-abortion activities which take place outside of premises providing abortion services. The Scottish Government has identified that the Bill will positively impact people with protected characteristics other than religion which may be negatively impacted.

This conclusion is shared by others, such as the Scottish Human Rights Commission, which notes:

“The Commission considers that a restriction on protest at termination of pregnancy services is likely to have positive impacts for individuals seeking abortion or other sexual and reproductive healthcare provided in the same settings will have positive impacts for young people, disabled people, trans people, women, pregnant people and new mothers, women of colour and lesbian and bisexual women and men who attend these services, each of whom will benefit from increased privacy and the removal of a possibly coercive force as they attempt to access care”.^[40]