Scottish pharmacies could be added to the list of “protected premises” where “anti-abortion activity” is set to be banned across the country.

The “buffer zone” bill - which passed stage one in the Scottish government last week (April 30) by 123 votes to one - aims to “protect access to abortion services across Scotland”, according to the legislation memorandum.

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The bill would ensure that “anti-abortion activists cannot shout at, call to, or display written or visual images” within a “safe access zone” of 200 metres “extending in all directions from the edge of…protected premises”, it added.

It defined these premises as those that “provide abortion services”, adding that the phrasing “could allow pharmacies to be added” in the future.

However, it said that “this example is illustrative only” and that there are currently “no plans to do this”.

“There are pharmacies in every high street”

During a parliamentary debate before MSPs voted on the bill last week, Sottish National Party MSP Bob Doris raised concerns over the possibility.

“One of the bill’s provisions states that related services that are connected to abortion but are not abortion clinics could come within the scope of a buffer zone,” he said.

“The policy memorandum mentioned pharmacies possibly being one of those”, he added.

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But “there are pharmacies in every high street”, he said, adding that his “concern is that such an extension might lead to, say, a pro-life group being unable to have a stall in a high street”.

Green MSP Gillian Mackay stressed that “the number of sites that are currently protected represents those that are designated under the Abortion Act 1967” and “any other premises…would have to be designated under that act as providing such services”.

All Scottish pharmacies started offering a bridging contraception service in 2021.