An SNP Member of the Scottish Parliament has attended an anti-abortion gathering by the 40 Days for Life group [1] outside Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow.
In an email, Mason said the gathering, “could not really be described as a protest. It was more like a vigil.”
“They stood across a wide road from the hospital entrance and certainly did not approach anyone, harass anyone or cause alarm or distress.”
He added that he considered abortion to be “seldom essential or vital”, before claiming the vigils might help women realise “they have a choice”.
Mason, the MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, added: “Sadly some women are being coerced by a partner or family to have an abortion when they may not realise they have a choice, eg by having the baby and giving him/ her up for adoption.”
He also said he was “unconvinced” of the need for a new exclusion zone law. Mason later told The Times that “the key dividing line in all this is when life begins” and argued that if life was deemed to begin at conception then society had a “responsibility to support the health of both mother and baby”. He added: “But I respect the view of others that life does not begin until birth so only the woman’s health is a consideration.”