Pro-life activist Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was due to appear in court on Thursday after being charged with breaching controversial abortion buffer zone laws. Vaughan-Spruce was charged in December. She had been silently standing and praying in the zone.
Under the law, it is forbidden to harass, intimidate or even influence a person seeking to provide or seek an abortion.
Critics of the law have said it stifles freedom of speech. Indeed, in the two most high-profile cases, those charged did not even speak to anyone in the zone. While Vaughan-Spruce merely prayed silently in her head, in a separate case, Scottish grandmother Rose Docherty was charged for standing and holding a sign which said “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want”.
The issue has drawn the attention of the US State Department which said it was “monitoring” the “concerning” case against Vaughan-Spruce. US Vice President JD Vance, speaking at the March for Life rally in Washington DC last weekend, appeared to refer to Vaughan-Spruce when he said, “We speak up when other nations throw pro-life and pro-family advocates in prison for silent prayer, which we’ve seen way too much. But it’s got to stop.”
Vaughan-Spruce is receiving legal support from ADF International, which said she would plead “not guilty” at her hearing.
ADF notes that Vaughan-Spruce is the first person to be charged under Section 9 of the Public Order Act, which only came into force in October 20224. Crown Prosecution guidance says that silent prayer does not constitute criminal behaviour unless it is accompanied by “overt” behaviour, although it advised a case-by-case approach.
Vaughan-Spruce has previously been charged - and cleared - of breaching similar laws in 2023, however these were local authority Public Spaces Protection Orders, rather than the most recent Westminster legislation.
Speaking ahead of the hearing, Vaughan-Spruce said, “Despite being fully vindicated multiple times after being wrongfully arrested for my thoughts, it’s unbelievable that I have yet again been charged for standing in that public area and holding pro-life beliefs. Silent prayer – or holding pro-life beliefs – cannot possibly be a crime. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought.”
On X, she also thanked JD Vance for his support, saying, “Prayer is not a crime. Standing is not a crime. Silence is not a crime.”
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF International, commented, “’Buffer zones’ are among the most concerning frontiers of censorship in the modern West.
"We all stand against harassment and abuse, but the ‘buffer zone’ law broadly bans ‘influence’ which is being interpreted by police officers to target innocent people who happen to stand in a certain place and believe a certain thing.
"We will continue to robustly challenge this unjust censorship, and support Isabel’s right to think and believe freely as is the right of every person in the UK.”
