<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-k" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United Kingdom</a> authorities arrested a pro-life woman praying outside an abortion clinic for allegedly breaking a temporary Public Space Protection Order on four separate occasions earlier this month.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a 45-year-old charity volunteer, was arrested and charged on four counts after she told police she &#8220;might&#8221; be silently praying near the U.K.’s leading provider of NHS-funded abortion services BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham, according to <a href="https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/isabel-vaughan-spruce-45-charged-25794626.amp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">local media</a>.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) published footage earlier this week showing authorities approaching Vaughan-Spruce outside the clinic. During the interaction, authorities questioned why Vaughn Spruce was standing outside the abortion facility &#8220;of all places.&#8221;
&#8220;Are you standing here as part of a protest?” asked the officer.
“No, I’m not protesting,” Vaughan-Spruce said.
&#8220;Are you praying?&#8221; the police officer asked her.
&#8220;I might be praying in my head,&#8221; she replied.
ADF <a href="https://adf.uk/woman-charged-for-thoughtcrime/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> authorities confronted the woman after receiving complaints from an observer who suspected that Vaughan-Spruce was praying silently in her mind.
Following her arrest, Vaughan-Spruce told ADF that it was &#8220;abhorrently wrong&#8221; that authorities searched, arrested, interrogated, and charged her &#8220;simply for praying in the privacy of my own mind.&#8221;
&#8220;Nobody should ever be subject to harassment,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But what I did was the furthest thing from harmful. I was exercising my freedom of thought, my freedom of religion, inside the privacy of my own mind.&#8221;
&#8220;Nobody should be criminalized for thinking and for praying in a public space in the U.K.,” Vaughan-Spruce added.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Woman Arrested for Silently Praying" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k6E105a58p8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Police arrested Vaughan-Spruce on December 6 and subsequently charged her on December 15 with four counts of failing to comply with a Public Space Protection Order in so-called censorship zones, which authorities introduced to criminalize individuals appearing to be &#8220;engaging in any act of approval or disapproval or attempted act of approval or disapproval.&#8221;
Such acts include &#8220;verbal or written means, prayer or counseling&#8221; in relation to abortion, according to ADF U.K.
Birmingham City Council officials enforced the order earlier this year, which local media <a href="https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/calls-end-years-anti-abortion-23786305" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> bans explicitly protesting abortion outside clinics after members of the “40 Days For Life” anti-abortion group began repeatedly posting up outside the center.
Police said such protests reportedly led to verbal and physical confrontations.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF U.K. supporting Vaughan-Spruce, said, &#8220;Isabel&#8217;s experience should be deeply concerning to all those who believe that our hard-fought fundamental rights are worth protecting.&#8221;
&#8220;It is truly astonishing that the law has granted local authorities such wide and unaccountable discretion, that now even thoughts deemed ‘wrong’ can lead to a humiliating arrest and a criminal charge,&#8221; Igunnubole said.
The Daily Signal <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/12/22/are-you-praying-authorities-arrest-woman-silently-praying-outside-abortion-clinic/">reported</a> that Scottish communications officer for ADF U.K. Lois McLatchie said in a statement that &#8220;no citizen should be criminalized for legitimate, peaceful activity, even prayer.&#8221;
&#8220;Isabel&#8217;s case demonstrates just how far the state can go if we do not vigilantly guard fundamental rights and freedoms,&#8221; McLatchie said.
Vaughn-Spruce posted bail and will appear at Birmingham Magistrates&#8217; Court on February 2.
The arrest follows two other incidents within the last two years where local police told a praying woman in <a href="https://adf.uk/bournemouth-prayer-ban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Southern England</a> to leave despite standing outside the local censorship zone, and a <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://adf.uk/public-prayer-ban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grandmother from Liverpool</a> was arrested and fined for praying silently near an abortion facility on a walk during COVID lockdown.

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Praying Woman Arrested For Breaking Public Space Order Outside U.K. Abortion Clinic