Pro-life campaigner Isabel Vaughan-Spruce has had a legal Sword of Damocles over her head for 10 months as British authorities proceed to choose whether or to not charge her for silent prayer in an abortion clinic buffer zone.
Vaughan-Spruce was first arrested in December 2022 for silently praying in an abortion buffer zone in Birmingham.
While she was acquitted of all charges the next February, just just a few weeks later she was arrested again.
A six-month police investigation followed and resulted in all charges being dropped and Vaughan-Spruce receiving an apology and £13,000 in compensation from West Midlands Police.
That was not the top of it nonetheless. In March of this 12 months Vaughan-Spruce was told that she was under investigation. Typically, it takes West Midlands police two days to choose whether charges are being brought against a person. It has now been 10 months and Vaughan-Spruce has still not been charged.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Vaughan-Spruce said, “Despite being fully vindicated multiple times after being wrongfully arrested for my thoughts, it’s unbelievable that I even have been repeatedly interrogated and harassed by police for silently praying in that area, and yet again find myself under a lengthy investigation.
“Silent prayer cannot possibly be a criminal offense – everyone has the proper to freedom of thought. The punishment in my case has clearly been the method.”
It is believed that a part of the rationale for the delay could also be uncertainty throughout the Crown Prosecution Service as to easy methods to cope with what could well be a precedent-setting case.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF International, which is supporting Vaughan-Spruce, told The Telegraph, “The authorities are frozen in indecision about whether or not they’re really expected to prosecute anyone’s silent prayers. The protracted delays and protracted legal uncertainty surrounding the enforcement of so-called ‘buffer zones’ were entirely foreseeable.”
He added that the laws getting used against Vaughan-Spruce present “serious constitutional difficulties” as they threaten legal sanction and even prison for thoughts and for traditional Christian viewpoints.
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