A Scottish judge has dismissed charges against 75-year-old pro-life grandmother Rose Docherty, who was arrested last September for peacefully protesting abortion outside an abortion center in Scotland.
Docherty was merely holding a sign and offering consensual conversation in a so-called buffer zone outside a Glasgow hospital that kills babies.
Sheriff Stuart Reid at Glasgow Sheriff Court ruled that prosecutors “failed to disclose an offence known to the law of Scotland” and dismissed the two charges of “influencing” within the zone pro loco et tempore.
Docherty, a Christian grandmother from Glasgow, had stood silently with a sign reading: “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.” She did not approach anyone, did not discuss abortion and offered conversation only to those who wanted it.
SUPPORT LIFENEWS! If you want to help fight abortion, please donate to LifeNews.com!
She was the first person criminally charged under Scotland’s 2024 buffer zone law, which bans “influencing” within 200 meters of hospitals that do abortions.
Outside court, Docherty hailed the ruling as a victory for free speech.
“This verdict is a major victory for free speech in Scotland and the UK. It shows that peacefully offering consensual conversation on a public street, which is all I have ever done, can never be a crime,” she said.
“Even though the verdict was a victory, the process in this case became a form of punishment for me. I was arrested last September and have faced seven months of criminal proceedings, merely for exercising my free speech rights. This should never happen in a free society,” she added.
Docherty also said: “Simply for being available for the lonely, the afraid and the coerced, I have been treated like a violent criminal. But thankfully, today the charges have been dismissed. The judge ruled that the charges were irrelevant and that they were a breach of my Article 10 free speech rights.”
Her legal team, coordinated by ADF International, argued the charges were insufficiently clear and violated her right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Prosecutors had conceded they lacked evidence that Docherty had influenced anyone seeking abortion.
ADF International barrister Jeremiah Igunnubole said the outcome vindicated her rights.
“Rose’s free speech rights have been vindicated by the court in a significant victory for freedom of expression in the United Kingdom,” Igunnubole said. “The prosecution of Rose has no place in a free and democratic society. No one should ever be criminalised for peaceful speech, least of all for making a peaceful and consensual offer to speak.”
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children called it “a stunning victory for freedom of speech and common sense in Scotland.”
Docherty was handcuffed, placed in a police van and held in a cell for more than two hours without a chair, despite telling officers she had undergone double hip replacement surgery.
This was her second arrest for the same peaceful activity; prosecutors dropped an earlier case from February 2025.
The case drew international attention, with the U.S. State Department describing her arrest as “another egregious example of the tyrannical suppression of free speech happening across Europe.” Pro-life advocates say the dismissal exposes how buffer zone laws are misused to target peaceful, compassionate outreach to women in crisis.
