JK ROWLING has spoken out against the Gender Recognition Reform Bill in Scotland saying it "will harm the most vulnerable women in society".

Her comments came after Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison spoke in Holyrood earlier this week about the bill - which will allow men to change their legal sex simply by affirmation - saying that there is no evidence abusive men have ever “had to pretend to be anything else to carry out abusive and predatory behaviour”.

Author and journalist, Susan Dalgety, wrote a newspaper article about her own experiences of abuse in childhood, saying she was inspired to do so after listening to Ms Robison's "crass statement".

Describing herself as a "fellow survivor", Edinburgh-based Ms Rowling commented that the article was a "searing, heartfelt and courageous response" to Ms Robison's "astounding claim".

She added: "The law Nicola Sturgeon is trying to pass in Scotland will harm the most vulnerable women in society - those seeking help after male violence/rape and incarcerated women. Statistics show that imprisoned women are already far more likely to have been previously abused."

Ms Rowling has consistently been the focus of 'cancellation' attempts since she first came under fire in 2019 for announcing her support for a researcher who lost her job for tweeting “men cannot change into women”, and then commenting on an article that said "people who menstruate", by saying, "I'm sure there used to be a word for those people…"

To mark the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter film, stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint reunited for a special TV show, 'Return to Hogwarts', but Ms Rowling was left out. She has been targeted by “hundreds of trans activists”, with one Twitter user saying they wished to put a “very nice pipe bomb in her mail box”.

In January, Police Scotland said a tweet posted by trans activists targeting the author would not be treated as criminal.

Ms Rowling contacted officers after campaigners posted a photograph of her capital house in November that revealed the property’s address.

It included trans activists standing by the house and carrying placards with slogans such as “trans liberation now”.

Ms Rowling said the photo made her a victim of “doxxing” – the act of publishing private personal information about an individual or organization, usually online, to enable others to take action.