{"id":299220,"date":"2023-09-26T14:43:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T19:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=299220"},"modified":"2023-09-25T20:39:04","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T01:39:04","slug":"police-drop-charges-apologize-woman-silent-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/police-drop-charges-apologize-woman-silent-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"UK police drop charges, apologize to woman arrested for silent prayer near abortion business"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>Police in the United Kingdom <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/255453\/woman-arrested-for-silent-prayer-at-uk-abortion-clinics-gets-police-apology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">confirmed<\/a> last week that all charges have been dropped against Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, the woman arrested for &#8220;thoughtcrime&#8221; as she stood and silently prayed outside an abortion facility. The police also apologized to Vaughan-Spruce for the length of time it took for them to determine whether or not she would face charges.<\/p>\n<p>The apology came just one week after the British Home Secretary Suella Braverman <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/british-home-secretary-silent-prayer-not-unlawful\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told police<\/a> that\u00a0\u201csilent prayer, within itself, is not unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On March 6, Vaughan-Spruce <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-arrested-silent-prayer-uk-abortion-businesses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was arrested<\/a> for praying inside a &#8220;buffer zone&#8221; outside an abortion facility. Pro-life activity, including prayer, had been outlawed as part of the \u201cPublic Spaces Protection Order.\u201d The entire interaction was caught on video.<\/p>\n<p>Vaughan-Spruce maintained that she hadn&#8217;t done anything in violation of the buffer zone ordinance, but the police insisted her silent praying warranted an arrest. \u201cBut you\u2019ve said you\u2019re engaging in prayer, which is the offense,&#8221; one officer said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSilent prayer,\u201d Vaughan-Spruce responded, to which the officer replied, \u201cNo, but you were still engaging in prayer. It is an offense.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-container\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: Isabel has been arrested, AGAIN, for THINKING.<\/p>\n<p>MPs vote TOMORROW on banning silent prayer near all abortion facilities in\ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc65\udb40\udc6e\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc7f&amp;\ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc77\udb40\udc6c\udb40\udc73\udb40\udc7f<\/p>\n<p>&quot;You&#39;ve said you&#39;re engaging in prayer, which is the offense.&quot;<br \/>&quot;Silent prayer.&quot;<br \/>&quot;You were still engaging in prayer, which is the offense.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AId3OguiXz\">pic.twitter.com\/AId3OguiXz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; ADF UK (@ADF_UK) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ADF_UK\/status\/1632820479131099136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 6, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>The incident was Vaughan-Spruce&#8217;s second arrest for praying; she was <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/charges-dropped-woman-arrested-praying\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first arrested<\/a> in December of last year, but those charges were subsequently dropped.<\/p>\n<p>According to Alliance Defending Freedom UK, the firm <a href=\"https:\/\/adf.uk\/vindication-silent-prayer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">representing<\/a> Vaughan-Spruce, the local West Midlands Police have now confirmed that <i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201c<\/span><\/i>there will be no further investigation into the alleged matter, and there will be no further action taken.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vaughan-Spruce welcomed the ruling. \u201cThis isn\u2019t 1984, but 2023 \u2013 I should never have been arrested or investigated simply for the thoughts I held in my own mind. Silent prayer is never criminal,&#8221; she <a href=\"https:\/\/adf.uk\/vindication-silent-prayer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>, referencing author George Orwell&#8217;s famed dystopian novel, &#8220;1984.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I welcome West Midland Police\u2019s decision to end their investigation and their apology for the time it took to do so, but it\u2019s important to highlight the extremely harmful implications of this ordeal not just for myself, but for everyone concerned with fundamental freedoms in the UK,&#8221; she added. &#8220;What happened to me signals to others that they too could face arrest, interrogation, investigation, and potential prosecution if caught exercising their basic freedom of thought.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/stop-planned-parenthood\/?utm_campaign=sex_ed_petition&amp;utm_medium=LAN&amp;utm_source=website\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-295788\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Stop-PP-From-Sexualizing-Kids970x250-blur-700x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Stop-PP-From-Sexualizing-Kids970x250-blur-700x180.jpg 700w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Stop-PP-From-Sexualizing-Kids970x250-blur-300x77.jpg 300w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Stop-PP-From-Sexualizing-Kids970x250-blur-768x198.jpg 768w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Stop-PP-From-Sexualizing-Kids970x250-blur-500x129.jpg 500w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Stop-PP-From-Sexualizing-Kids970x250-blur.jpg 970w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police in the United Kingdom confirmed last week that all charges have been dropped against Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, the woman arrested for &#8220;thoughtcrime&#8221; as she stood and silently prayed outside an abortion facility. The police also apologized to Vaughan-Spruce for the length of time it took for them to determine whether or not she would face [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":287173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>UK police drop charges, apologize to woman arrested for silent prayer near abortion business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The apology came one week after the British Home Secretary Suella Braverman told police that\u00a0\u201csilent prayer, within itself, is not unlawful.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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