A Roman Catholic woman is being prosecuted in Northern Ireland for praying inside an abortion clinic buffer zone.
Claire Brennan was arrested outside Causeway Hospital in Coleraine last October where she had been saying The Lord’s Prayer and holding up an indication that said ‘Pray to End Abortion’. Her colleague, David Hall, was also arrested.
If found guilty of breaching the hospital’s ‘protected access zone’, she faces a positive and as much as six months in prison.
The Christian Legal Centre (CLC), which is supporting her challenge against prosecution, said it was the primary case of its kind in Northern Ireland, which last yr brought in nationwide buffer zones outside abortion clinics. The buffer zones ban prayer, distributing literature, and offering help to women inside a 100 to 250m radius of clinics.
In footage of her arrest, an officer tells Mrs Brennan that she is “really stubborn and ignorant” for breaking the law by refusing to maneuver on.
Ahead of the hearing last Tuesday, Mrs Brennan said it was “deeply disturbing” that the law “tells free residents that they shall be arrested in the event that they pray”.
She said that folks ought to be free to hope anywhere in Northern Ireland “even outside of an abortion clinic”.
“The expansion of abortion services in Northern Ireland lately has been appalling. Our laws, beliefs and culture on upholding and protecting life on this country have been trampled on,” she said.
“We need urgent change to roll back what has happened on this country and to uphold God’s law not man’s law. The unborn are essentially the most vulnerable and in danger in our society and we’ve forgotten our moral duty to do all the things we are able to to guard their lives and to supply vulnerable moms with alternatives to abortion.
“The laws discriminates against Christian beliefs and their expression. If we will not be free to precise prayer against abortion outside of a clinic without being criminalised, then none of us are free.
“I think I actually have done absolutely nothing flawed. If the courts find that I actually have and choose to convict me then we’re in a really dark place indeed.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “In Northern Ireland, it has been shown that laws restricting abortion saved greater than 100,000 lives within the years from 1967 to 2016.
“For greater than 50 years, the law in Northern Ireland only permitted abortion if it was vital to save lots of the lifetime of the pregnant woman. The 1967 Abortion Act in England and Wales, which is widely interpreted to allow abortion on request, was not prolonged to NI.
“Since that law modified in March 2020, there was a two and a half times increase within the annual variety of abortions. This is a tragedy, and anyone who cares about protecting life ought to be especially concerned by what has happened in Northern Ireland lately.
“Buffer zones are an oppressive part of the present culture which force consent and silence dissent. The saddest thing of all is that we are literally talking about human lives.
“We stand with Claire as she fights for justice and consider the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act (Northern Ireland) 2023 should be repealed.”
