Pro-life campaigner who silently prayed in abortion clinic buffer zone criminally charged

A professional-life campaigner who silently prayed near an abortion clinic in Birmingham has been criminally charged. 

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce had been under investigation since January over the incident. She first became aware that she was being criminally charged when the Attorney General responded on 16 December to a parliamentary query from former Home Secretary Suella Braverman MP concerning her case. 

That response said, “The Crown Prosecution Service has issued proceedings under Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023, in relation to 1 case, because it was commenced on 31 October 2024.”

Vaughan-Spruce received written notice of the costs just a few hours later from West Midlands Police.

It is the primary time someone has been charged for the reason that recent laws for the so-called “protected access zones” were rolled out across England and Wales in October 2024 under Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023. This case due to this fact differs from previous ones which fell under Public Spaces Protection Orders enforced by local authorities.

Laws governing the “protected access zones” make it a criminal offence to “influence any person’s decision to access or facilitate abortion services at an abortion clinic”, obstruct individuals from accessing abortion clinics, or “cause harassment, alarm or distress to any person in reference to a call to access, provide or facilitate abortion services at an abortion clinic”.

The Crown Prosecution Service has previously said that praying silently outside abortion clinics may not necessarily be a criminal offense, and that decisions to prosecute might be made on a case-by-case basis. 

Vaughan-Spruce is co-director of the pro-life organisation UK March for Life and has prayed near the identical abortion clinic for 20 years. In 2023, she was acquitted by Birmingham Magistrates’ Court after being prosecuted for breaching the terms of an abortion clinic buffer zone. Last 12 months she received a £13,000 settlement from West Midlands Police over two wrongful arrests for praying silently in a buffer zone. Those matters were brought under different legal powers and should not part of the present proceedings.

She said it was “unbelievable” she was being prosecuted again. 

“Silent prayer – or holding pro-life beliefs – cannot possibly be a criminal offense. Everyone has the proper to freedom of thought,” she said. 

Vaughan-Spruce is as a consequence of appear before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on January 29. If convicted, she could possibly be given a limiteless tremendous.