An English woman who was twice arrested for silent prayer in the vicinity of an abortion clinic has received a settlement after suing the police department. Isabella Vaughan-Spruce was awarded £13,000 for both incidents of unjust treatment, which occurred in early 2023.
Right To Life reports that Vaughan-Spruce was represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) UK for the suit, which cited two wrongful arrests and imprisonments, assault and battery in relation to the search of her person, and breach of human rights. The human rights complaint referred to the arrests, but also unreasonable bail conditions that prohibited her from entering the vicinity of an abortion clinic, while her home was within walking distance.
In a report from ADF UK, Vaughan Spruce commented that she was glad to be vindicated, but she expressed her fears that others in England may face the same scrutiny from other police departments:
“Silent prayer is not a crime. Nobody should be arrested merely for the thoughts they have in their heads – yet this happened to me twice at the hands of the West Midlands Police, who explicitly told me that “prayer is an offense."
“There is no place for Orwell’s ‘thought police’ in 21st-century Britain, and thanks to legal support I received from ADF UK, I’m delighted that the settlement that I have received today acknowledges that. Yet despite this victory, I am deeply concerned that this violation could be repeated at the hands of other police forces.”
Where we are headed
She went on to lament a new imminent “buffer zone” policy that the UK government is currently working on. When passed, this policy would ban all forms of “influencing” in a 150-meter radius of an abortion clinic. ADF warns that the ambiguous wording of the bill would make consensual conversation, praying, or simply offering a leaflet about help services into offenses that could lead to criminal convictions.
ADF pointed out two such ongoing cases: one in which a military veteran is awaiting trial for praying silently at an abortion clinic about his own experience with abortion; the other is a retired scientist who is also awaiting trial for standing near the same clinic with a sign that simply read: “Here to talk if you want.”
Jeremiah Igunnubole, Legal Counsel for ADF UK, said of these cases:
“The fact that the government is reportedly set to name 'silent prayer' as a criminal offense, brazenly contrary to their commitment to international human rights law, exposes the crisis of free speech and thought in the UK today. Law enforcers are duty bound to vigilantly protect, not prosecute, the peaceful exercise [of] fundamental rights.”
Igunnubole went on to express his confidence that ADF would win these cases, using Vaughan-Spruce’s settlement as a precedent.
