The Scottish Catholic Church has labelled as “absurd and alarming” comments by Scotland’s chief legal officer regarding the alleged dangers of praying outside abortion clinics.

Addressing the UK’s Supreme Court about abortion facilities in Northern Ireland, Dorothy Bain KC said that prayer vigils outside facilities offering abortion could be “far more damaging” than verbal protest, and “standing in judgment” may be “just as psychologically damaging” for women.

She was making the case for prayer vigils to be included in so-called ‘buffer zones’ outside abortion clinics – areas where certain types of activity are banned such as protesting or handing out leaflets. A similar law has been proposed by the Irish Government.

Peter Kearny, spokesperson for the Catholic Church in Scotland, told Premier Radio they have condemned her comments “in defence of religious freedom and practice.”

“For people to be told they can’t stand silently in prayer, in this case, outside an abortion clinic or a hospital that carries out abortions is really, frankly, chilling and extremely worrying.”

“The job really, I think, for all churches, and not just for Christians, but for people of all religious beliefs is to raise concerns about the destruction of, what I would describe as the ‘sledge hammer’, that is being taken to our civil liberties.”

“This is something that is part of the fabric of our society and one of our fundamental rights and it would be appalling if it was to be removed,” Kearny continued.