A Scottish lawmaker has confirmed that praying inside your home can constitute a crime.
On February 12, U.S. Vice President JD Vance drew international attention to the draconian restrictions on speech near abortion clinics in Scotland at the Munich Security Conference. After citing the case of U.K. veteran Adam Smith-Connor, who was arrested, charged, and convicted for praying silently about his aborted son near an abortion clinic, Vance highlighted the fact that Scotland’s legislation is even worse.
“Now, I wish I could say that this was a fluke, a one-off, crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person,” he stated. “But no. This last October, just a few months ago, the Scottish government began distributing letters to citizens whose houses lay within so-called ‘safe access’ zones, warning them that even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law. Naturally, the government urged readers to report any fellow citizens suspected guilty of thoughtcrime in Britain and across Europe.”
European leaders leapt to condemn Vance’s speech as hyperbole and even overt falsehood, but now Member of Scottish Parliament Gillian Mackay has confirmed Vance’s statement – and ironically, she did so during an interview with the BBC’s news podcast Scotcast, in which she was trying to debunk the allegation.
Mackay was the Scottish Greens MSP who put forward the Remove term: Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act 2024, which passed last June by a whopping margin of 118 votes to 1 and established 200-metre-wide “exclusion zones” surrounding all Scottish abortion clinics. Letters were then sent to residents who found themselves living inside these “exclusion zones,” informing them that the law applied to their behaviour, on their own property.
“What about the accusation that even private prayer within your own home could amount to breaking the law?” the host, Martin Geissler, asked. “I mean, it’s stretching it – but it’s not wrong, is it?”
“It’s absolute nonsense,” Mackay replied with a dismissive laugh.
“Is it?” Geissler responded. “I’m looking at the letter the government sent [which was referenced by Vance] to householders …” Here Mackay interrupted: “Nowhere does it say private prayer.”
“No, but what it does say is that activities in a private place like a house in these zones could be an offence if they can be seen or heard within the zone and done ‘intentionally or recklessly,’” he shot back. “Now, if you’re telling me that prayer can be an offence outside a clinic, if you’re inside your own house, inside that zone, theoretically, the law could be applied to you, couldn’t it? I’m just trying to work out any way in which JD Vance could be right.”
“I should be very clear: praying in and of itself is not an offence under this bill,” an uncomfortable Mackay replied. “We are not banning prayer under the act.”
“Performative prayer? If you’re standing at a window with your hands together in front of your face in that classic image of prayer – if you’re standing at a window so people can see you – then could it be interpreted as an offence?” Geissler pushed.
“That then depends on who is passing the window, and whether—” Mackay conceded.
“So he’s not wrong, is he?” Geissler concluded.
Here, Mackay stuttered and stalled. “No… he is wrong… because, if… I don’t know anybody who can pray loudly or performatively enough to be seen from outside their own house.”
But she had already conceded the point – and Mackay being personally unaware of a specific person capable of standing near a large window with their hands folded in prayer is irrelevant to the question, although I am unsurprised that she does not know such a person.
Mackay had previously condemned Vance’s allegation in the strongest terms, stating on X:
This is shocking and shameless misinformation from Vice President JD Vance. He is one of the most powerful people in the world but he is peddling total nonsense about what my act has done. Abortion rights are human rights and they are healthcare.
Other outlets, like the BBC, had already leapt to “debunk” Vance’s statement – although Mackay herself has now confirmed that he was correct. She began by claiming that prayer in one’s personal home was not banned – but after just a few questions, was forced to amend that to: “That depends on who is passing the window.”
What she likely meant was: in Scotland, if you are on your way to kill your baby, then you are granted the extraordinary right of prosecuting people if you witness them praying in their homes without first pulling the curtains.
As U.K. pro-life activist Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who has been arrested herself for silent prayer near an abortion clinic, put it: “So can we all accept the truth of what JD Vance was saying now? If, like the prophet Daniel from the Bible, you like to pray near the window, you could fall foul of buffer zones in Scotland.”
