Overview

• Police arrested Rose Docherty outside Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow after she held a sign reading, “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.”
• Scotland’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act establishes restricted areas around hospitals where actions intended to influence patients or staff are prohibited.
• Docherty was released on bail with conditions that bar her from the buffer zone and a larger surrounding area, according to her legal team, with further proceedings pending.
• The U.S. State Department criticized the arrest as an example of tyrannical suppression of free speech and vowed to speak out against such violations.
• Docherty was previously arrested in August at the same location for the same sign and that case was dropped; ADF International represents her and reports custody treatment claims that have not been independently confirmed.