Scottish Government gives date for emergency summit on abortion care in Scotland

In an invitation seen by The Scotsman, Nicola Sturgeon has invited various groups to attend a summit on abortion care in Scotland on Monday, June 27.

The event will take place at the Edinburgh Hilton Carlton and is understood to last for up to three and a half hours.

Groups such as Back Off Scotland, calling for the implementation of 150m anti-abortion protest buffer zones around clinics and hospitals, have been invited to the event.

The anger over inadequate abortion services provision in Scotland comes amidst growing pressure to impose buffer zones outside clinics to protect women from abuse. Picture: PA

The news follows a recent rise in anti-abortion protests in Scotland. Recent protests outside the Sandyford Clinic in Glasgow include signs such as “Abortion is Murder” with protesters wearing filming devices.

The emergency summit was initially called on in a letter by Monica Lennon to allow MSPs, abortion rights groups, healthcare staff and the women directly affected by protests to get “around the table”.

It is understood all signatories of the letter, including Rape Crisis Scotland and Women’s Aid, have been invited to the summit.

At First Minister’s Questions last week, Ms Sturgeon said the summit will bring together “a range of interests”, involving local authorities and Police Scotland, as she supported implementing national legislation.

Ms Lennon welcomed the invitation to ‘various stakeholders’ and ‘representatives from political parties’ as she said the First Minister chairing the event is ‘hugely significant’.

The Labour MSP added: “Hopefully we can collectively work at pace to safeguard harassment-free access to clinics and address other issues of importance to abortion healthcare in Scotland.”