By Bill Heaney
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said an SNP MSP was wrong to claim clinics “push abortion without laying out the pros and cons”.
In doing so, she has probably seriously undermined the prospect of people voting for her in the Dumbarton constituency where at least one SNP councillor – re-elected with probably the highest number of votes – is widely perceived as being pro-life and anti-abortion.
MSP John Mason has come under fire for his defence of anti-abortion “vigils” outside Glasgow hospitals.
At some vigils, activists have been seen holding signs saying “women do regret abortion”, among other slogans.
Ms Sturgeon said she was “a passionate believer in a woman’s right to choose”.
The first minister told BBC Scotland: “I disagree with John Mason on abortion.
“I believe w
omen should have the ability to exercise the right to choose, which is never done lightly by any woman, without fear or intimidation.
“People have a right to protest in a democracy, and that includes the right to protest against abortion.
“They should do that outside a parliament where the laws are made, not outside a hospital.”
Meanwhile, Scotland has been urged to follow the example of England and Wales by continuing to offer at-home abortions.
The model, which enables woman to take medication in their own homes following a phone consultation, began as a temporary measure during the pandemic.
The Scottish government said it would not take a final decision on making the scheme permanent until the autumn.
But the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said the treatment was safe and called on ministers to act now.
Dr Patricia Lohr, BPAS medical director, said research found “overwhelming support” for the telemedical model.
She told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland: “They talked about it as being convenient, it enhanced their privacy, it meant that they were more in control about the timing and place of the abortion and, of course, it was more comfortable for them to have their abortion in the home environment.”
However the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) condemned the policy and said it amounted to “state-sponsored backstreet abortion”.
Nicola Sturgeon is absolutely pro abortion.
But it doesn’t stop there. She has recently come out to say that she is now open minded about assisted dying. Life it seems is a commodity, something that can be taken away.
Abortion as a form of contraception. Well yes, that’s the Sturgeon view. Assisted dying when someone has passed their utility, usefulness and or have become a burden. Well yes, Sturgeon is open minded about that.
And for having a conscience, asking for people to pause and reflect on the matter of the termination of a life, Sturgeon has slapped down a very ethical MSP.
Somebody once made a joke about how in relation to having to listen to a poor Tory speaker it would have been better if his father had embraced his homosexuality sooner. The intended joke, the wry quip was seized upon by the great and the good in the political firmament as being absolutely outrageous. But no such faux gay rage from Sturgeon on a much more truly serious matter, the termination of a life.