Pro-life activists who engage in silent prayer in protest at abortion face unlimited fines if they breach ‘buffer zones’ around clinics, under new laws aimed at preventing women from being harassed or distressed by people seeking to ‘influence’ their decision-making (Independent, LBC, Telegraph, Times).
The legislation will bar protests including silent prayer within a safe access zone – or ‘buffer zone’ – surrounding a clinic or hospital providing abortion services.
In 2023, Parliament voted by 297 to 100 in favour of measures under section 9 of the Public Order Act to create 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.
However, Labour has now ditched draft non-statutory guidance issued by the previous Conservative government, which 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 under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to hold any belief or thought.
The defunct guidance stated: “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.”
On the question of prayer, it added: “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.”
The guidance also made clear the government would expect ‘influence’ to require “more than mere mention of abortion or the provision of information”, and that, as such, “informing, discussing, or offering help, does not necessarily amount to ‘influence’”.
Under the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s updated guidance, people within the zones will be barred from attempting to influence any woman’s decision to have an abortion, obstructing them or causing harassment, alarm or distress to them. This will include handing out anti-abortion leaflets, protesting against abortion rights, or shouting at individuals attempting to access abortion services.
According to the Home Office, it could also cover prayer, including silent prayer, holding vigils, or “any behaviour where someone is intentionally trying to – or recklessly acting in a way that might – influence a person accessing the service”.
It will be at the discretion of the police to determine whether it meets the threshold for prosecution, but anyone found guilty of breaking the new laws will face an unlimited fine.
While anti-abortion campaigners say the wording of this measure risks criminalising consensual conversations, the simple act of offering a leaflet about help services available to pregnant women, and even the act of thought itself, 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, although the buffer zone measures created under section 9 of the Public Order Act are in accordance with Article 8 of the ECHR (the right to respect for one’s private and family life), there should also 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).
Silent prayer has been at the centre of a series of court cases where campaigners have argued that their arrest for doing so was unjust and a breach of their human rights.
Adam Smith-Connor, a reservist who served in Afghanistan, recently announced he will appeal his conviction after praying silently outside an abortion clinic for his unborn son.
Following an interrogation by police officers on “the nature of his prayers”, he was prosecuted for breaching a ban on protests within a buffer zone around a clinic in Bournemouth, given a two-year conditional discharge, and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £9,000.
Earlier this year, a Christian charity volunteer 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.
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.
Under the terms of a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) introduced in 2022 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.
