The Scottish Conservatives have repeatedly proposed giving legal aid to rape victims in order to help them get advice when opposing legal teams who try to access their medical records.
Those suggestions have been rejected twice by the SNP, meaning victims have no opportunity to contest lawyers representing the accused from accessing their medical records, even if they are irrelevant to the case.
However, on Friday the Court of Session ruled that a domestic abuse victim in a similar situation should be granted legal aid.
That should force the Scottish Government to reconsider the move, which is supported by rape charities, for a third time, after senior judge Lord Glennie said ministers had misinterpreted the law.
The change would not necessarily prevent medical records being accessed, but it would allow a victim legal representation to fairly contest their release.
Scottish Conservative justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell said:
“Since 2013 the Scottish Government hasn’t take the opportunity to prove sincere in its assertion that it wants to improve rape and sexual assault convictions.
“Instead, it rejected the points I put forward when I introduced amendments to the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act and the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act.
“Those would have ensured that rape victims had legal representation to challenge the inappropriate use of their medical and psychiatric records.
“It was pointed out to the Scottish Government that victims’ south of the border did have access for legal aid, in order to oppose the unjustifiable release of these records.
“The Scottish Government rejected all these arguments out of hand. Friday’s judgment proves categorically that it was wrong.
“The judgment now means that legal aid has to be approved and the Scottish Government has an early opportunity to right this discrimination against some of the most vulnerable women in society
“It should back my amendment, which is tabled for Stage 2 of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Bill.”