The United States Department of State recently hailed Scotland’s decision to drop legal charges against Rose Docherty, a 75-year-old grandmother arrested for peacefully protesting near an abortion clinic.
“We applaud Scotland’s sensible decision to refrain from further legal action against Rose Docherty,” a state department spokesperson told the Telegraph in an Aug. 16 report. “The United States stands with all those fighting for free speech and religious liberty.”
As CatholicVote reported Aug. 15, Scottish prosecutors dropped the case against Docherty after the Alliance Defending Freedom International successfully challenged her case.
On February 19, 2025, Docherty had stood near Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, and she held a sign stating, “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.” She was arrested, and a public prosecutor sent Docherty a letter demanding for her to state that her actions were illegal. Docherty refused.
Docherty’s case was one of many free speech cases in the United Kingdom (UK) resulting from the pervasive regional “buffer zone” laws, which prohibit protesting abortion within close proximity to abortion clinics. Other cases include those of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who has been targeted three times by police for silently praying outside an abortion facility; Livia Tossici-Bolt, who faced criminal charges earlier this year for holding a sign reading, “Here to talk if you want,” inside a buffer zone; and Adam Smith-Connor, an army veteran, who was convicted in 2024 of breaching a buffer zone while he silently prayed for his son, who was killed by abortion 23 years ago.
CatholicVote previously reported that the state department had raised concerns over the UK’s “serious restrictions on freedom of expression” in an Aug. 13 report on human rights.