Christian army veteran stands trial over silent prayer in abortion clinic buffer zone

The trial into a military veteran’s silent prayer near an abortion clinic has begun at Poole Magistrates’ Court. 

Adam Smith-Connor was issued with a set penalty notice on 13 December 2022 after allegedly being in breach of an abortion clinic “buffer zone” in Bournemouth the previous month. 

He told officers he had been “praying for his deceased son” who was aborted by an ex-girlfriend, a choice he now regrets. 

Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council filed charges against Smith-Connor for praying inside the boundaries of the buffer zone. The buffer zone bans a lot of pro-life activities including prayer and offers of help to women experiencing crisis pregnancies. 

The three-day trial is as a consequence of conclude on Thursday. 

Speaking ahead of the hearing, Smith-Connor said that opinions or beliefs held in people’s minds mustn’t be a criminal offense. 

“Nobody needs to be prosecuted for silent prayer. It is unfathomable that in an apparently free society, I’m being criminally charged on the idea of my silent thoughts, within the privacy of my very own mind. It’s not different than being tried for a thoughtcrime,” he said. 

“I served for 20 years in the military reserves, including a tour in Afghanistan, to guard the basic freedoms that this country is built upon. I proceed that spirit of service as a health care skilled and church volunteer. It troubles me greatly to see our freedoms eroded to the extent that thoughtcrimes at the moment are being prosecuted within the UK.”

Smith-Connor is being supported by the Alliance Defending Freedom UK (ADF UK), which said the case revealed confusion amongst Britain’s cops about where the law stands on silent prayer. 

Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF UK, said, “In various other circumstances, the police and the courts have made it clear that silent prayer shouldn’t be a criminal act. And yet, BCP Council, which has already conceded that presence shouldn’t be in itself an offence, has introduced a rights-restricting censorship zone, which they now argue extends to a ban on silent prayer.

“In permitting the prosecution of silent prayer, we’re sailing into dangerous waters regarding human rights protections within the UK. Censorship zones are inherently incorrect and engender unhelpful legal confusion regarding the suitable to free thought. Both domestic and international law have long established freedom of thought as an absolute right that must not ever be interfered with by the state.

“The Telegraph recently reported that Ministers are considering naming ‘silent prayer’ as a criminal offense of their ‘buffer zones’ guidance – to achieve this wouldn’t only be a legal error, it could open up the floodgates to human rights violations just like those experienced by Adam Smith-Connor.”