{"id":300797,"date":"2023-10-30T10:38:13","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T15:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=300797"},"modified":"2023-10-29T20:16:08","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T01:16:08","slug":"pro-life-activist-silent-prayer-abortion-cited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-life-activist-silent-prayer-abortion-cited\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-life activist cited for silent prayer outside UK abortion facility&#8230; again"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, the British pro-life activist repeatedly arrested simply for praying, has been <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ADF_UK\/status\/1717480648070344758?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1717480648070344758%7Ctwgr%5E801c37a9c310ffd85eca01f2d6e2b241ce10d24c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.liveaction.org%2Fnews%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D300797action%3Dedit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">charged<\/a> for a third time for silently praying outside an abortion facility in the United Kingdom. The October 18 incident occurred even though two previous charges against Vaughan-Spruce for the same infraction were both dropped and a September statement by 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>\u00a0that\u00a0\u201csilent prayer, within itself, is not unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Britain enacted legislation that prohibits all pro-life activity, including silent prayer, as part of the \u201cPublic Spaces Protection Order.\u201d Vaughan Spruce had been arrested twice before for thoughtcrime \u2014 simply standing and silently praying outside abortion facilities.<\/p>\n<p>Video footage from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) UK shows the latest interaction, as a female police officer questions Vaughan-Spruce while reading from a piece of paper. Vaughan-Spruce denies that she is protesting and states that though she is involved with a pro-life organization, she is not there in that capacity. Despite this, she was issued a \u201cfixed penalty\u201d for \u201cfailing to comply with the Public Space Protection Order and the Anti-Social Behavior Crime and Policing Act of 2014.\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\ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n<p>NEW FOOTAGE obtained by ADF UK shows an officer employed by West Midlands Police investigating the thoughts of a Christian standing still and SILENTLY PRAYING within an abortion facility \u201cbuffer zone\u201d in Birmingham, 18th October.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc6e\ud83d\udc6e\ud83d\udc6e <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bvyc11R8FZ\">pic.twitter.com\/bvyc11R8FZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; ADF UK (@ADF_UK) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ADF_UK\/status\/1717480648070344758?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 26, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>Vaughan-Spruce decried the latest interaction.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The UK government urgently needs to clarify that silent thoughts can never be illegal \u2013 even if those thoughts are in disagreement with the views of the State,&#8221; she said. &#8220;This is the third time I have been treated like a criminal for peacefully, silently, and imperceptibly praying for women who are likely facing one of the worst days of their lives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The buffer zone regulation has already sought to prevent me and others from counseling women desperately in need of help. And now, authorities are trying to remove my ability even to pray for these women. To fine somebody simply for their thoughts is grossly Orwellian and an insult to the\u00a0freedoms that Britain\u00a0is meant to protect,&#8221; she continued.<\/p>\n<p>Per <a href=\"https:\/\/adf.uk\/support-isabel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ADF UK<\/a>, Vaughan-Spruce was initially issued a fine, but that fine was later retracted.<\/p>\n<p>Vaughan-Spruce is not the only individual who has faced legal implications for doing nothing more than standing silently outside an abortion facility. Adam Smith-Connor, an army veteran, is <a href=\"https:\/\/adf.uk\/support-adam\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">expected in court<\/a> on November 16 following a November 2022 arrest for silently praying for his deceased son within a buffer zone.<\/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>Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, the British pro-life activist repeatedly arrested simply for praying, has been charged for a third time for silently praying outside an abortion facility in the United Kingdom. The October 18 incident occurred even though two previous charges against Vaughan-Spruce for the same infraction were both dropped and a September statement by British Home [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":300808,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,3473],"tags":[19,20393,19819,2978,20403,754,2580,19682,521,20402,20404,776],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pro-life activist cited for silent prayer outside UK abortion facility... again<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A pro-life activist has been penalized for the third time, merely for praying silently near an abortion facility in the United Kingdom.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-life-activist-silent-prayer-abortion-cited\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pro-life activist cited for silent prayer outside UK abortion facility... again\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A pro-life activist has been penalized for the third time, merely for praying silently near an abortion facility in the United Kingdom.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-life-activist-silent-prayer-abortion-cited\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-30T15:38:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-30T01:16:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-from-Instagram-3.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bridget Sielicki\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bridget Sielicki\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-life-activist-silent-prayer-abortion-cited\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-life-activist-silent-prayer-abortion-cited\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bridget Sielicki\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f\"},\"headline\":\"Pro-life activist cited for silent prayer outside UK abortion facility&#8230; 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