MSPs have overwhelmingly backed plans for “buffer zones” to stop protesters gathering outside clinical settings where abortions take place. 

Only the SNP’s John Mason voted against the Bill, tabled by Scottish Green Gillian Mackay.

The stage one debate is on the general principles of the legislation.

The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill will now go to the next parliamentary stage, with members able to submit amendments. 

READ MORE: The abortion buffer zones Bill in Scotland, explained

Ms Mackay's Bill aims to create 200m rings outside clinics to stop users and staff being deterred or intimidated by protestors.

Pro-life campaigners could be fined if they encroach on the buffer zone - with unlimited charges for serious breaches.

It follows complaints about women having to run a gauntlet of pro-life demonstrators outside clinics, including the main NHS services in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Earlier this year, the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee heard from doctors working at facilities offering abortion services, who said the protests could result in patients delaying or not accessing treatment.

Ms Mackay’s Bill follows on from a long campaign by the group Back Off Scotland.

It has been opposed by churches and Christian groups who have say it is tantamount a prayer ban.

Opened the debate, Ms Mackay shared an account of woman who told her of “two large older men screaming” at her while she was alone trying to access abortion care which led her to carry “guilt for years”.

“This is a relatively small bill, but the size does not reflect the depth of feeling it has provoked or the scale of change it will bring,” Ms Mackay told MSPs.

“Abortion can be deeply polarising. I don’t expect to change that, but this bill is not about the rights or wrongs of abortion. It is about the right and ability of patients to access care without running a gauntlet of disapproval and judgement.

“I am confident this bill is a proportionate means of protecting women and staff from activities that can have profound consequences.

“There are women who have sought abortion care and felt unable to defend themselves in the face of activity designed to shame and frighten them. Today, everyone in his chamber has a chance to show they are willing to work on their behalf to provide them with a defence.”

READ MORE: Back Off Scotland: The fight for abortion buffer zones

During the debate, Mr Mason claimed there was “very little evidence” of any harassment of women taking place outside clinics.

He said he had twice visited “a vigil or protest if you prefer to call it that across a wide road outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.”

“These groups are mainly older and mainly religious people quietly reading or praying. They offer support and information to women who are considering an abortion.

“And in some cases, we know that women have not been fully informed of the options available to them, have not completely made up their minds, or maybe being pressurised by a partner or family member not to have a baby.”

Labour’s Monica Lennon disagreed. She said the protests were “having a real impact on women in Scotland right now.”

“It doesn't matter how quiet or noisy it is it has the same impact on women,” she added.

Ms Lennon said they had become more common in recent years. “There's been a real escalation and it's become more sinister.

"We've seen it at the Sandyford Clinic [in Glasgow] where people try to board up access to that clinic. We've seen people gather in huge numbers, sometimes more than 100 people at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow and I've seen it in my own parliamentary region in Central Scotland where people have gathered at University Hospital.”

READ MORE: Row over outlawing of prayer outside Scots abortion clinics in new law

There were questions over exactly how the legislation would be policed, particularly around silent prayer.

SNP MSP Rona Mackay also argued that “praying for the souls of unborn children” was a “human right”, but believed when it was taking place outside an abortion provider this “moved the dial massively”.

She said: “I believe these so called vigils amount to the targeted intimidation of women.”

With the Scottish Government also backing the legislation, women’s health minister Jenni Minto told MSPs that she was “confident the Bill is the best way to provide the protection women and staff need” at abortion clinics.

She added that the Bill showed how MSPs “can unite across all party lines when we are motivated by a greater good – in this case, to protect the dignity and privacy of women accessing vital healthcare and those providing it”.