Leave our daughters & sisters in peace

New call for buffer zones as demonstrators return to hospital

- KAITLIN EASTON

CAMPAIGNERS have slammed "intimidating and cruel" tactics used by antiabortion group 40 Days for Life who have been targeting women accessing healthcare in Scotland.

Members of the Texas-based organisation began a fresh campaign earlier this week at the entrance to the maternity unit of Glasgow's Royal Infirmary.

Protesters stood outside the hospital and held up signs urging people to talk to them if they were pregnant.

Group members didn't speak to other passers-by as they silently prayed and held rosary beads.

The protests sparked fresh calls for buffer zones to be introduced immediately by the Scottish Government.

Scotland is the only nation in the UK not to have passed legislation on safe access zones.

Dr Greg Irwin, a consultant at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH), confronted protesters earlier this year and told them they were upsetting patients.

He said yesterday: "These women deserve privacy and the very best of healthcare. They also deserve to be treated with respect and compassion and not to have to run the gauntlet of cruel and misogynistic protests.

"It's really disappointing that protesters have yet again decided to target women in Glasgow. They need to leave our sisters and daughters in peace."