ADF International
CV NEWS FEED // The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has issued a statement condemning the UK government over the unjust arrest of a Christian woman who was praying silently near an abortion facility.
On page 78 of its 2024 annual report, USCIRF highlighted the arrest of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who was arrested twice in 2023 for silently praying in a “buffer zone” near an abortion facility in Birmingham. A Public Spaces Protection Order had banned all expressions of “approval or disapproval” of abortion in the area.
Cited as an example of “European governments target[ing] individuals for their peaceful religious expression,” the report notes that authorities “arrested and launched an investigation against Vaughan-Spruce for silently praying outside an abortion clinic.”
Responding to the USCIRF’s mention of her case, Vaughan-Spruce wrote in a May 14 statement published in an Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International news release:
Arresting individuals for silent prayer has put Britain in a position of global embarrassment. Nobody should be criminalised for their mere thoughts – this is a basic principle of a liberal democracy. If we can’t get that right at home, how are we meant to uphold human rights on the world stage?
I was searched, arrested, put in a police van, charged and placed on trial for a “thoughtcrime” – for peacefully and imperceptibly praying outside an abortion facility. With support from ADF UK, I was fully vindicated in court – but my case isn’t a one-off. The Home Office can prevent my arrest from recurring by clarifying in their upcoming guidance that, while we all condemn harassment, freedom of thought and consensual conversation must remain free.
As ADF noted in the release, Vaughan-Spruce’s case is widely considered to be the first instance of “thoughtcrime” case in 21st century Britain, having been charged “even though she prayed imperceptibly and [did] not [express] any opinion outside of her own mind.”
