"coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want".

[TemporaryPosition]

I know I'll be told I am being unreasonable.

But I feel this woman has not done anything morally wrong. To silently hold a sign that says this is not intimidating or harassing and could easily be ignored. I don't think we should arrest someone like this.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39vky8wr0do

She wasn’t charged for holding a sign, she was charged for breaching an exclusion zone. She broke the law.

Who is she suggesting is doing the coercion? The clinic? Either way, she was being unreasonable. It is intimidating and unsettling to do this.

She 100% deserved to be arrested. What she & others like her did outside the QEUH & another clinic to harass women going for terminations was disgusting.

The exclusion zone was set because of the harassment. She entered the exclusion zone. She broke the law. Damn right her and her sign ended up in the back of a police vehicle.

Horrible woman with her faux concern, hope they throw the book at her.

The area where they used to protest is adjacent to one of the largest fetal medicine units in Scotland, they may be silent but their posters and presence is intimidating and upsetting for people attending for care, staff and the public. I fully support consequences for breaching the exclusion zone.

Fantastic. The silly boot can stick her faux concern and her sign up her ass.

The fact here is that it's an exclusion zone. She isn't having a coffee with a friend and expressing her views regards abortion. She's being a menace. The intent of these people is NEVER honourable or decent.

Let me see her offer to foster all the kids that are in care and I will review my position.

I'm delighted she was arrested and that this law is actually being taken seriously.

Hope she learns her lesson.

But I feel this woman has not done anything morally wrong?
Then you feel wrong. She is pressuring and trying to guilt trip those poor women. And that is morally wrong.

And now it's illegal within the exclusion zone too, thank goodness. Horrible woman.

I agree she should not have been protesting inside the zone, but she is correct that many women are on the receiving end of coercive behaviour to try to bully them into having an abortion. Some are able to withstand it, some not.

Off the top of my head I can think of four.

I think the “old boot”/faux concern posters are off the mark.

Out of interest @TemporaryPosition what would you suggest the Policd do rather than arrest her. Do we suddenly give pensioners a free pass.

@TemporaryPosition
She broke an exclusion zone. That's what she was arrested for.

Also, if you think that a sign like that is not harrassing or intimidating and can "easily be ignored" then you have no understanding of human emotion at all.

And in any case, what business of hers what another woman chooses to do with her own body. How dare she!

Sounds like this woman thought she could maybe get around the new legislation with this sign. I’m glad it clearly hasn’t worked and it was seen for what it was.

No one is saying the anti abortion lot can’t have their views but why must they air them outside of a building where people are having or performing a medical procedure that affects them in no way whatsoever?

But I feel this woman has not done anything morally wrong.

She has, but that's completely irrelevant, because she hasn't been arrested for her morals.

The law and morality are two different things.

@User0103 calling someone an old boot is off the mark - simply because it's slightly immature and a poor argument to resort to insults 🤷‍♀️. That's the feral part of me reacting in emotion tbh 😆. The rest I feel isn't at all off the mark. I'll explain.....

I wonder what statistics there may be - if we ever could access such statistics - to demonstrate which proportion of women didn't really want a termination and may have been pushed into it by a partner. That's difficult to ascertain I think.

I still believe strongly that this lady really is demonstrating faux concern. If concern is primarily about whether a woman is being bullied into this by a partner then the appropriate response is not standing outside an anti abortion clinic surely? How will this woman's presence and words influence say a victim of DV and enable them to tackle the real problem - not the abortion, but their situation wherein they're trapped in an abusive relationship. So is there evidence that this lady here is an advocate, a supporter of DV victims and through actions is she demonstrating this position beyond standing outside an abortion clinic?

I am going to hazard a guess, none of the above will apply and there will be no evidence to demonstrate this lady is concerned beyond the zygote or even that if she's like these other menaces pretending that's the motivation for this crap they espouse.

I will say that her concern is therefore faux. At very best and I'm reaching, we can say it's misplaced. Even misplaced, it's god damn dangerous and she must frankly bugger off with her imposition on this one. Absolute menace.

@Wishyouwerehere50 Be careful with the old boot comments. Many of her generation fought for the rights that your generation enjoy today..

I have no sympathy for her. I travelled from overseas in my early 20s for a termination. I was already traumatized by the experience and protesters standing outside shouting at me nearly broke me.

I've no sympathy for her, she was in the exclusion zone.

@Wishyouwerehere50 But I do agree with you about the faux concern.

No one who is going for an abortion will see that sign and go discuss their situation with a total stranger - especially a stranger who is in an exclusion zone waving a banner. It’s bollocks - she’s prioritising her own moral position above the patients and staff rights.

It’s not concern, it’s coercive, insidious bullshit.

Well she was doing something wrong. She was within the exclusion zone.

Coercion is wrong. So is emotional blackmail.

See my later post - the criticism is not that she's old. It's that she's a boot. But I hear you. Low level insults on my part tbh. I really don't feel all older people are one of the same in any way. I'll just call her a boot. Old wasn't necessary.

I 💯 support exclusion zones and I'm glad that she's been arrested, she deserves to be. Maybe in future she'll mind her own business.
I dontate monthly to the BPAS. I feel lucky that when I had a termination, I didn't have to run the gauntlet of a load of nosy idle twats shouting and holding up signs.

She's not shouting at anyone. "Only if you want to".

She is “shouting” by being there.

It doesn’t matter that she wasn’t shouting, what matters is that she was in an area she was expressly prohibited from being with the intent she had.

The law is very clear; the woman was in the wrong and was treated accordingly.