{"id":64531,"date":"2025-05-01T02:40:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T02:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/64531\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T02:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T02:40:07","slug":"why-jd-vances-uk-remarks-hit-a-nerve-and-found-an-ally-in-scotland-national-catholic-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/64531\/","title":{"rendered":"Why JD Vance\u2019s UK Remarks Hit a Nerve \u2014 and Found an Ally in Scotland| National Catholic Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

GLASGOW, Scotland \u2014 At the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14, U.S. Vice President JD Vance startled European leaders with a stark warning about the erosion of free speech in the West<\/a> \u2014 singling out the United Kingdom for particular concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps most concerningly, I look to our very dear friends, the United Kingdom, where the backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons in the crosshairs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Vance highlighted the case of Adam Smith-Conner<\/a>, a 51-year-old Army veteran who prayed silently for three minutes on behalf of his unborn son, lost to abortion. Subsequently arrested by police, he was later found guilty of breaking the new \u201cbuffer zones\u201d law, which criminalizes silent prayer within 200 meters (about 660 feet) of an abortion facility. Smith-Conner was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution.<\/p>\n

Vance hoped this incident \u201cwas a fluke, a one-off, crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person. But no,\u201d he continued, \u201cThis last October [2024], just a few months ago, the Scottish government began distributing letters to citizens whose houses lay within so-called safe access zones, warning them that even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law. Naturally, the government urged readers to report any fellow citizens suspected guilty of thought crime in Britain. \u2026 Free speech, I fear, is in retreat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Needless to say, the vice president\u2019s comments caused consternation among the political elites in Europe \u2014 particularly in Britain.<\/p>\n

But how bad is the situation in Scotland for pro-lifers today? The Register traveled to Glasgow to interview John Deighan, CEO of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).<\/a> Founded in 1967, SPUC is the world\u2019s oldest pro-life campaigning and educational organization.<\/p>\n

So, what did he think on hearing the U.K. \u2014 and Scotland in particular \u2014 called out by the U.S. vice president?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was delighted!\u201d Deighan says, \u201c[Because] sometimes you feel that no one is aware of what is going on. There is a staggering lack of awareness with the political class or those who classify themselves as an intellectual elite. It is their ideologies and emotions that have clouded their intellect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deighan may have been \u201cdelighted\u201d by what Vance said, but the SPUC CEO was also awaiting the all-too-predictable response from British politicians \u2014 namely, that Vance\u2019s comments were just plain wrong. Yet in reference to Vance\u2019s claim that the Scottish government warned people about praying in their own homes, Deighan cites a letter sent to SPUC by a pro-lifer living in a Scottish buffer zone who was indeed warned about such behavior in his own home.<\/p>\n

Deighan finds it telling that the media and politicians were quick to label Vance a \u201cliar\u201d rather than engage with the concerns he raised. He believes this is because critics of Vance are incapable of \u201cseeing their own blind spots\u201d when it comes to the issue of abortion.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Milestone for women\u2019s rights\u2019 as abortion buffer zones law gets Royal Assent\u201d: Such was the headline on one of Scotland\u2019s main television channels when the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act 2024<\/a> received Royal Assent and became law in July 2024. Proposed amendments \u2014 such as a provision to allow individual silent prayer within buffer zones \u2014 were rejected before the final vote.<\/p>\n

This vote in the Scottish Parliament, Deighan contends, shows just how deeply embedded the culture of death is in Scottish politics. \u201cOnly one Member of the Scottish Parliament \u2014 out of 129 members \u2014 voted against the buffer zone legislation,\u201d he observes.<\/p>\n

Yet, worryingly, Deighan senses there is currently a fresh \u201cmomentum\u201d within the pro-abortion lobby at the Scottish Parliament, one that aims to expand abortion services further through a complete decriminalization of the procedure.<\/p>\n

In that case, one wonders: for groups like SPUC, is the Scottish Parliament a lost cause?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is about mobilizing the voters rather than working solely with Scottish parliamentarians,\u201d Deighan explains, accepting that working with politicians whose minds are already made up is largely futile. Instead, he suggests that the focus should be on Scottish voters, who are not so closed-minded.<\/p>\n

Take the issue of assisted suicide, which he sees as a good example where public opinion could be \u2014 and in the past has been \u2014 mobilized to prevent legislative change.<\/p>\n

However, on the subject of life in the womb, the abortion industry has not only the political and media establishment \u201con its side,\u201d but is also a formidable lobbying entity in its own right.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lengths that the abortion industry will go to crush anyone who disagrees with them \u2026\u201d reflects Deighan. For example, he explains, the language used today by the abortion lobby deliberately labels pro-lifers as \u201cdisgusting\u201d \u2014 and in so doing, such a designation effectively shuts down any debate on the subject.<\/p>\n

None of this surprises Deighan, who first got involved as a volunteer with SPUC in 1993. \u201cVilification of pro-lifers is not new,\u201d he maintains. Nevertheless, he has watched as tactics used by other pressure groups have been weaponized against the pro-life movement.<\/p>\n

Often, this entails conflating opposition to a group\u2019s aims with so-called \u201chate speech\u201d; thereafter, any disagreement with that view is no longer tolerated by wider society. This is exactly the approach being used against pro-lifers in Scotland, he feels.<\/p>\n

In turn, Deighan senses that this strategy shapes the way society approaches those who hold pro-life views. He cites the contrast between the treatment of ongoing pro-life witness and, for example, recent protests in Scotland against nuclear weapons, where overt and disruptive public demonstrations appeared to be tolerated.<\/p>\n

The difference in how pro-lifers are treated is stark, says Deighan: \u201cYou can\u2019t have six mild-mannered people saying the Rosary quietly more than 150 yards from an abortion facility without an eruption of horror.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a culture war,\u201d says Deighan, \u201cand as always, truth is the first victim of war.\u201d He goes on to describe what he considers a massive manipulation of information \u2014 one that now makes it impossible to have a rational discussion with those who view abortion as anything other than \u201chealth care,\u201d a concept, he says, that is never questioned by the British media.<\/p>\n

For all that, while continuing with SPUC\u2019s long-standing work in the fields of law, medicine and education, Deighan is conscious of the need to engage more directly in the ongoing culture war. In light of this, SPUC has deployed a new strategy: building a \u201ccritical mass of the creative minority in the culture-shaping areas of society.\u201d<\/p>\n

This refers to the idea of a creative minority that shapes the cultural tone and ultimately guides society in the direction it wants to go. To that end, SPUC is now working in the areas of film and social media \u2014 for example, recently producing the award-winning feature film An Irish Angel<\/a> (2024), and establishing the Write for Life Academy,<\/a> which is dedicated to equipping a community of pro-life creatives who support one another in achieving their creative goals and, in so doing, reaching the wider culture.<\/p>\n

In all this, Vance\u2019s words have helped \u2014 to some extent at least \u2014 says Deighan. But what they have done, he adds, is \u201cmade the elites think there is someone watching.\u201d That said, he is under no illusions: Abortion remains \u201cpolitically difficult\u201d to address across the U.K., he says.<\/p>\n

Vance\u2019s linking of abortion to freedom of speech may have been a \u201cshock\u201d to the British political establishment, but little more, says Deighan. However, regardless of what a visiting U.S. vice president says \u2014 or the reaction it garners \u2014 one Scot\u2019s resolve to witness to the child in the womb has never been stronger, despite his country\u2019s increasing dalliance with the Culture of Death.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been dealt a difficult hand,\u201d he says. \u201cBut in the end, truth and justice will win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLASGOW, Scotland \u2014 At the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 14, U.S. Vice President JD Vance startled European…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[26054,748,4884,601,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-64531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-abortion","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-jd-vance","12":"tag-scotland","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114430268397129141","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}