Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning, and welcome to the eighth meeting in 2024 of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. I have received no apologies. The convener is unable to attend today’s meeting physically and will therefore join us remotely, so I will convene the meeting as deputy convener.

Today, the committee will take evidence from two panels on the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill. As she is the member in charge of the bill, Gillian Mackay MSP will not participate in the committee’s scrutiny of the bill by virtue of rule 9.13A.2(b) of standing orders. Ross Greer will attend in her place as a committee substitute by virtue of rule 12.2A.2 of standing orders.

In our first evidence session, we will explore the impact of the bill for those who are against the introduction of safe access zones. Before we begin, I will provide a brief introduction to the session. The evidence that we will hear today will be in relation to the proposed establishment of safe access zones, and we will hear from individuals with lived experience as a consequence. As such, some of the content of this meeting might be sensitive or potentially distressing, and the committee encourages anyone who is affected by any of the issues discussed today to seek support. If anyone needs to take a break during the session, they should indicate that to me.

I welcome to the meeting Margaret Akers, who is the services co-ordinator of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children in Scotland, and Bishop John Keenan, who is vice-president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland and the Bishop of Paisley—they are both attending in person. I also welcome Alina Dulgheriu, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce and Dr Mark Pickering, who is chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, who are attending virtually.

Thank you all for giving evidence to the committee this morning. I know that some of you are sharing personal experiences. We appreciate your joining us to help to inform the committee’s scrutiny of the bill. Please note that there is no pressure or expectation to share anything that you are not comfortable with. Again, please let us know if you would like to take a break at any point.

I understand that Alina and Isabel will begin by setting out their experiences and views on the proposed establishment of safe access zones. I invite Alina to address us first.

We now move to questions from members, and I invite Ivan McKee to start.

I will quickly bring in Alina Dulgheriu and then come to Bishop Keenan.

We are reaching the halfway point of proceedings, and there are three witnesses who wish to comment on that issue. I invite Dr Pickering and the two witnesses who are in the room to comment. We can then move on.

We have covered a lot of ground, but we still have a great deal to cover, so, if the witnesses are amenable, I am minded to extend the evidence session by 15 minutes, to 11 am.

We have not yet covered an issue that was brought up in a previous evidence session, which was a concern that information distributed to people accessing abortion clinics by those engaged in activities covered by the bill is not always factually accurate—I am thinking of, for example, the medical consequences of the procedure. Do any of the witnesses have a view on ensuring that clinically accurate—and not necessarily sensationalist or alarmist—material is distributed?

We resume our scrutiny of the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill. Our second evidence session will explore human rights considerations. I welcome to the meeting Eilidh Dickson, who is the policy and international officer at the Scottish Human Rights Commission and is attending virtually. All other witnesses are here in person. I welcome the Rev Stephen Allison, who is the public engagement co-ordinator for the Free Church of Scotland, Rob Gowans, who is the policy and public affairs manager for the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland, known as the ALLIANCE, and Dr Catriona McMillan, who is former convener of the health and medical law sub-committee of the Law Society of Scotland.

We will move straight to questions from members and I invite Ivan McKee to start.

I thank our witnesses for attending. Are there any other points that you wish to raise that you do not think we have covered so far in the evidence sessions? No, everyone seems content to stop there. If there are any further items that you want to correspond with us on, you are more than welcome to do so. There has already been some discussion about some items of correspondence that we will follow up on. I reiterate our thanks for taking the time today to come to the committee and help us scrutinise this legislation.

At our next meeting, on 19 March, we will conclude our evidence taking in our stage 1 scrutiny of the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill. We will hear from the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health and then from the member in charge of the bill, Gillian Mackay MSP. That concludes the public part of our meeting today. Thank you.

Good morning, and welcome to the seventh meeting in 2024 of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. The convener is unable to attend today’s meeting physically and will join us remotely, so I will convene the meeting. I have received no apologies.

The first item on our agenda is two evidence sessions on the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill. As Gillian Mackay is the member in charge of the bill, she cannot participate in the committee’s scrutiny of the bill by virtue of rule 9.13A.2(b) of standing orders. Ross Greer will attend in her place as a committee substitute by virtue of rule 12.2A.2.

In the first evidence session, we will explore the impact that the bill would have on those who provide abortion services. I welcome our witnesses, who are all here in person. Professor Sharon Cameron is a consultant in gynaecology and sexual and reproductive health for NHS Lothian’s Chalmers sexual health service; Colin Poolman is the director of the Royal College of Nursing in Scotland; and Dr Chris Provan is the chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners in Scotland. Thank you very much for coming.

Linda Hodges, representing private hospital abortion service managers, was due to give evidence this morning, but she has given her apologies, so we will engage with her through written correspondence.

We will move straight to questions from members. I invite Ivan McKee to ask the first questions.

Are there any other matters that members of the committee have not raised so far that the witnesses feel a need to mention?

I call the meeting to order. We will continue our first agenda item with a second evidence session on the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill. In this session, we will explore the impact of the bill for those who will be responsible for the enforcement and management of safe access zones.

I welcome our witnesses to the meeting. Simon Brown is vice-president of the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association; Superintendent Gerry Corrigan is from specialist operations in G division of Police Scotland; Eddie Follan is chief officer in health and social care at the the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities; Lesley Sharkey is director of midwifery at NHS Tayside; and Sarah Wallage is lead clinician for abortion at NHS Grampian.

We will move to questions from members of the committee.