A Christian charity volunteer has received a £13,000 payout and apology from police after she claimed her arrest for praying silently outside an abortion clinic was unjust and breached her human rights.
The news comes just days after reports that the newly elected Labour Government will strengthen existing legislative measures to prohibit silent prayer near abortion facilities, rewriting guidance published by the previous administration that protects the right of religious campaigners to freedom of thought.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who is the director of anti-abortion group March for Life, issued a claim against West Midlands Police for two wrongful arrests and false imprisonments, assault and battery in relation to an intrusive search of her person, and for a breach of her human rights in 2022 and 2023.
Ms Vaughan-Spruce was first arrested in November 2022 for silently praying in a “buffer zone” imposed by local authorities in streets around an abortion clinic in the Kings Norton area of Birmingham.
Under the terms of a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) introduced earlier that year by Birmingham City Council, any “act of approval or disapproval” towards abortion services within the vicinity of an abortion clinic constitutes a criminal offence with a fine of up to £1,000 fine. The restriction applies to “any act of approval or disapproval…by any means” and is “not limited to graphic, verbal or written means, prayer or counselling”.
As a result of this wording, it was irrelevant that Ms Vaughan-Spruce was not doing, saying or displaying anything to indicate her “approval or disapproval” of abortion services while standing inside the buffer zone. When a police officer approached her and asked whether she was inwardly praying, the admission that she “might” have been was enough for the officer to arrest her, take her to a police station and search her.
She was later charged with “protesting and engaging in an act that is intimidating to service users”, but in February 2023 was acquitted at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court after the prosecution were unable to offer evidence to substantiate the alleged ‘thoughtcrime’.
Weeks later, she was again arrested for praying imperceptibly while inside an abortion buffer zone. Six police officers attended the scene to deal with this lone, entirely peaceful middle-aged woman. In a video which went viral, an officer is heard confirming to Ms Vaughan-Spruce: “You’ve said you’ve been engaging in prayer, which is the offence.”
A six-month long police investigation ended in charges being dropped and an apology being issued from police regarding the lengthy process.
The case was closed shortly after Suella Braverman, the then home secretary, confirmed in an open letter to police that silent prayer is “not unlawful”. Ms Vaughan-Spruce has now received the £13,000 payout after issuing her claim against police.
“Silent prayer is not a crime,” she said. “Nobody should be arrested merely for the thoughts they have in their heads – yet this happened to me twice at the hands of the West Midlands Police, who explicitly told me that ‘prayer is an offence’.”
She added: “There is no place for Orwell’s Thought Police in 21st-century Britain, and thanks to legal support I received from ADF UK, I’m delighted that the settlement that I have received today acknowledges that.
“[D]espite this victory, I am deeply concerned that this violation could be repeated at the hands of other police forces. Our culture is shifting towards a clampdown on viewpoint diversity, with Christian thought and prayer increasingly under threat of censorship.”
In 2023, Parliament voted by 297 to 100 in favour of measures under section 9 of the Public Order Act to create safe access zones (or ‘buffer zones’) around abortion clinics to protect the rights of women to access healthcare without fear of harassment or intimidation.
Within these zones, it is an offence within 150 metres of an abortion services provider to intentionally or recklessly: influence a decision to access or to provide abortion services; impede or obstruct access to these services; and harass or intimidate a person while they access the provision of abortion services at an abortion clinic.
While anti-abortion campaigners say the wording of this measure risks criminalising consensual conversations, praying, or the simple act of offering a leaflet about help services available to pregnant women, feminist campaigners including Labour MP Stella Creasy point out that ‘influencing’ tactics including the showing of pictures of foetuses, and making those attending abortion clinic pass by vigils, represent a form of harassment designed “to intimidate or destabilise a very difficult decision”.
According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (ECHR), although section 9 is in accordance with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to respect for one’s private and family life), there also needs to be “due regard to the rights of others, such as protesters, which may be engaged”, such as qualified Article 10 rights (freedom of expression) and Article 11 rights (freedom of assembly).
In addition, draft non-statutory guidance subsequently issued by the Home Office appeared to leave room for some approaches to be made within the safe zones to women attending clinics by emphasising the importance of qualified Article 9 rights to hold any belief or thought.
The guidance states: “There can be no legitimate justification on the part of the public authority to limit, interfere or otherwise penalise persons for their exercise of this aspect of the Article 9 right. Therefore, the police should never ask anyone what they are thinking and should not base an arrest solely on any silent thoughts an individual may admit to having.”
Elsewhere, the guidance notes: “The term ‘influence’ is not defined in the statute and therefore takes its ordinary dictionary meaning. The government would expect ‘influence’ to require more than mere mention of abortion or the provision of information. As such, informing, discussing, or offering help, does not necessarily amount to ‘influence’.”
It adds: “Prayer within a safe access zone should not automatically be seen as unlawful. Prayer has long received legal protection in the United Kingdom and these protections have not changed.”
According to recent reports, the Labour Government is expected to review this draft non-statutory guidance.
The fact that all three Home Office ministers, including Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, voted against allowing silent prayer inside buffer zones while in opposition has boosted hopes among pro-choice campaigners that silent prayer and handing out leaflets in buffer zones will be massively limited.
Louise McCudden, of MSI Reproductive Choices, said: “With a Home Secretary who voted for safe access zones, a Home Office team of fierce reproductive rights advocates like Diana Johnson and Jess Phillips, and a Government that says it wants to make tackling violence against women a priority, we are cautiously optimistic that they recognise the dangers of watering down this legislation.”
However, former Conservative cabinet minister Lord David Frost said: “It is incredible that people have been arrested for thought crime in modern Britain. I am very glad Ms Vaughan-Spruce has received compensation for her unjust arrest for this so-called offence.
“But if a recent report is correct that the Government is considering formally criminalising silent prayer outside abortion centres, then there will be further such cases, and then not just freedom of speech but freedom of thought will be under threat. It is hard to imagine a more absurd and dangerous situation.
Lord Frost continued: “It would be much better to stick to the sensible approach in the previous Home Secretary’s draft guidance, which proposed a much better balance between the various competing rights and interests. If the Government scraps it, then it will be clear to all that its commitment to civil liberties and fundamental freedoms is paper thin.”
Conservative peer and former treasurer of the Conservative Party, Lord Michael Farmer, said: “A country like ours, which places such a high value on human rights and freedom of speech should be horrified at its citizens being arrested for their silent thoughts or prayer.
The peer added: “What happened to Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was a travesty of justice and it is right that West Midlands Police make some compensation for the hardship she has endured.
“But the wider issue remains that we are living through an undemocratic clampdown on Christian speech, expression and thought in the UK which is set to intensify when the government rolls out “buffer zones” nationwide.
