A U.K. court ruled that individuals cannot pray silently or read their Bible in abortion clinic buffer zones.
The court upheld a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), which prohibits pro-life activity within the buffer zone.
According to the judges, “It is, in our judgment, naïve and simplistic to suggest that activities of this kind in this context cannot be considered ‘detrimental’… just because they are silent.”
They added, “The protest activities described in the evidence, including silent prayer and the handing out of leaflets, were… outside a clinic to which women were resorting at particularly sensitive and difficult moments in their lives.”
The judges further insinuated that abortion is a right, noting that the order establishing the buffer zone is “justified by the legitimate aim of protecting the rights of women attending the clinic, their associates, and the staff.”
Chief Executive of Christian Concern Andrea Williams said that the organization will be appealing the ruling.
“Peaceful witness near abortion centres are helpful to many women in crisis pregnancies, offering genuine choice by providing support. Whatever the guidance or law says, arresting peaceful pro-lifers in these zones clearly breaches their human rights,” Williams explained. “The measures brought in by Bournemouth Council are disturbing in that they prevent women from being given access to alternatives to abortion.”
Emphasizing that silent prayer is not harassment, Williams added, “There is no evidence whatsoever to show that anyone is being harassed outside abortion clinics. The truth is quite the opposite. It is the abortion supporters who intimidate and harass and do not permit the viewpoint that shows the women a pathway of life and hope.”
American Faith reported that a former British Army member faces charges for silently praying near an abortion clinic.
“You might think this is a story from Orwell’s 1984 – but in fact this is happening in England in 2023,” Adam Smith-Connor said. “‘Thoughtcrimes’ shouldn’t be prosecuted in the UK.”
In a statement to MailOnline, Smith-Connor stated, “Nobody should be prosecuted for silent prayer,” he told MailOnline. “It is unfathomable that in an apparently free society, I am being criminalized on the basis of what I expressed silently, in the privacy of my own mind.”
