Left image – Wikimedia Commons: VancePortrait
US Vice-President JD Vance has condemned the UK’s targeting of pro-life Christians who have been prosecuted for praying near abortion facilities. SPUC has welcomed Vance’s “moral leadership” on the “vital matter” of free speech and buffer zones.
Vice-President Vance spoke at the Munich Security Conference last Friday, where he called out the UK’s buffer zones laws that criminalise pro-life activity, leading to the arrests of Christians who silently pray outside abortion facilities.
“In Britain, and across Europe, free speech I fear is in retreat”, Vance said, citing the case of Adam Smith-Connor who was found guilty of praying silently for his dead son near an abortion facility in Bournemouth.
Vance continued: “I wish I could say that this was a fluke, a one-off, crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person. But no… The backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular, in the crosshairs.”
Smith-Connor, who was conditionally discharged for two years, was ordered to pay £9,000 in prosecution costs after last year’s verdict. He is set to appeal his conviction in July, supported by ADF UK.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Smith-Connor said he was “tremendously grateful that the vice-president is showcasing the deterioration of fundamental freedoms in the UK”.
Buffer zones of 150m in England and Wales, and 200m in Scotland, became effective last year. Several pro-life Christians have been prosecuted for praying silently or presenting Bible verses near abortion facilities in the UK.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce received an apology and compensation for two wrongful arrests after she prayed silently within a buffer zone. However, it recently emerged that Vaughan-Spruce was targeted again by police for her “mere presence” inside a buffer zone, which might constitute a crime, police claimed.
In Scotland, residents within buffer zones received a government letter warning them that “[pro-life] activities in a private place (such as a house) within the area between the protected premises and the boundary of a Zone could be an offence if they can be seen or heard within the Zone and are done intentionally or recklessly”.
Vance referenced the letter during his Munich speech.
SPUC commends Vance’s “moral leadership”
Daniel Frampton, SPUC’s Editorial Officer, said: “British politicians responsible for buffer zones deserved to be shamed for their illiberal and anti-religious persecution of pro-life Christians. The imposition of thoughtcrime in Britain should not be taken lightly. This is exactly what George Orwell warned about.
“SPUC commends JD Vance’s moral leadership on the vital matter of free speech and religious freedom, which are constantly under attack in the West. Pro-life men and women are so often on the frontline of this battle, which has now even infringed on their right to pray silently in a public space.
“There is something very wrong in the UK when the act of praying is outlawed in certain public spaces. Liberties once cherished can no longer be taken for granted. While this is shocking, the world is at last beginning to take notice of what is happening here.
“The abortion regime has ultimately overreached itself by prioritising the killing of unborn children over the right to life, liberty and religious freedom. This cannot be allowed to continue, and politicians who support censorship must be called out for betraying the freedoms that they purport to uphold.”
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