Two Glasgow politicians clashed on abortion rights and the protests outside hospitals at the SNP conference.
The conference was debating a motion on abortion services which called for “universal access to services including abortion services” should be a “fundamental human right”.
It called on the buffer zone legislation, which would move protests more than 150 metres away from facilities.
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It also called for home abortion services. Implemented during the pandemic, to be permanently available.
And it called for abortion up to 24 weeks, the legal limit, to be available in Scotland to prevent women having to travel to England.
Alison Thewlis, Glasgow Central MP, backed the proposal and said the protests were deliberately designed to intimidate women.
John Mason, Shettleston MSP, however, said the SNP must respect the wishes of pro-life supporters.
Thewliss said: “Those who protest are causing considerable distress to those going to access services and the staff who work in facilities.
“It is unacceptable people should be put off accessing services by people outside condemning their decision.”
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She added that the loudspeakers used by protesters can be heard inside.
Thewliss added: “This is done deliberately to distress people.”
She condemned the “creeping influence of the US anti-abortion lobby who she said was “sending funding and people to Scotland from Texas” to protest here.
Mason, however, said the SNP had always been a “big tent” party tolerant of different views.
He said: “There has always been a sizeable minority that would take a pro-life position, who think life begins at conception rather than birth.”
He said the cause of independence was damaged by excluding those voices.
Mason asked the conference if it wanted a “big tent to maximise the chances of independence” or a “narrowed down support base” that means someone had to be pro-independence and pro-choice to be a member of the SNP.
He added he wanted an “open and inclusive party rather than a rigid and narrow one.”
The conference approved the motion overwhelmingly.
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