A Threat to Democracy

Just days after Vice President JD Vance warned Europe against its "Orwellian" laws criminalizing free speech and silent prayer, a 74-year-old grandmother in Scotland was arrested for offering to speak to women outside an abortion facility.

Rose Docherty, holding a sign that read "Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want," was arrested by police for violating the abortion facility's "buffer zone" law, which prohibits free speech within a certain radius of the facility. This is the first arrest made under Scotland's Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act, which carries a hefty fine of 10,000 pounds or an unlimited financial penalty for deemed serious offenses.

Gillian Mackay, the Scottish Parliament member who authored the law, praised the police's swift action, calling peaceful pro-life advocacy "utterly shameful." However, Isabel Vaughn-Spruce, a victim of similar free speech suppression laws, condemned the arrest as "utterly disgraceful." She herself was twice convicted of violating a similar British law but eventually received a settlement from the government for violating her human rights.

This incident echoes the case of Adam Smith-Connor, who was arrested for silently praying for his deceased son near an abortion facility in England. Vice President Vance, citing these cases, warned European diplomats that free speech is in retreat across the continent and urged them to defend democracy and free expression.

Pro-life advocates in the British Isles are thankful for America's change in leadership under President Donald Trump, who pardoned 23 peaceful pro-life advocates arrested by the previous administration. They hope that this shift in leadership will help protect free speech and religious expression in the face of growing illiberalism and censorship.