Last night, The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) reacted with disappointment after MPs voted to ban even silent prayer around abortion facilities.

Before the vote, several MPs spoke out against the “chilling” prohibition, including Sir John Hayes, who said: “This is about freedom: it is not about the purpose of that freedom or the location of it. It is about the ability to think, speak and pray freely.”

Yesterday, on 7 March, MPs voted 299 to 116 against allowing silent prayer outside abortion facilities. A so-called “buffer zones” amendment to the Public Order Bill will now apply all pro-life activity and thought within a 150m zone.

The buffer zones amendment was initially introduced by Stella Creasy MP last year when MPs voted 297 to 110 to accept the proposed legislation.

But the House of Lords questioned the amendment, particularly its lack of proportionality. Lord Beith, for instance, commented: “I cannot support a clause which criminalises a person who ‘seeks to influence’… This is the most profound restriction on free speech I have ever seen in any UK legislation, and I cannot support it if it remains in its present form.”

An altered amendment was then tabled, allowing for silent prayer outside abortion facilities. The Government would also have been required to carry out a new review before introducing buffer zones.

This amendment was defeated last night.

MPs decry “monstrous” amendment

Despite the outcome of yesterday’s vote, several MPs spoke out against buffer zones and the outlawing of silent prayer outside abortion facilities – which MPs also warned would set a terrifying precedent for the UK.

As well as citing reasons why pro-life vigils help women in need, MPs also slammed the hijacking of the Public Order Bill by pro-abortion MPs with an anti-life, anti-prayer agenda.

Nick Fletcher MP (Don Valley) (Con) stated that a woman about to have an abortion “might want somebody just to turn to for that second… Also, if somebody is being coerced into going into one of those places to have a forced abortion, that lady or gentleman could be somebody who is there to help.”

Eddie Hughes MP (Walsall North) (Con) said that arresting and interrogating a woman such as Isabel Vaughan-Spruce for silently praying “shows a sense of complete disproportionality… If we continue down this line we are going to extrapolate on an extrapolation in order to make absolutely sure that anybody can be arrested for anything.”

Also opposing buffer zones was Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con), who said that the Public Order Bill had “been hijacked by people who want to stop completely silent peaceful protest… Where are we going? Where will this stop?”

Sir Leigh also invoked George Orwell in his speech to MPs. “The reason George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ resonates so much with all of us is that the state was trying to regulate not just people’s actions but what goes on in their minds”, he said. “That is why, ever since that novel was written, people have felt that probably the most advanced form of totalitarianism is one where the state is trying to regulate not simply people’s behaviour, but their minds.”

Sir John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con) concurred, stating that “the idea that we should interrupt the relationship between an individual and their God seems to me to be pretty monstrous… It is unthinkable that we should be living in a society where what people think has become a matter of police interest.”

In addition, Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP) made the point that buffer zones are in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which enshrines the freedom of thought and opinion, as SPUC has also stated.

Mr Paisley also called out Dr Rupa Huq MP (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab) for stating “very clearly” that prayer was not proper in certain places.

“Where is not the proper place to pray?” Mr Paisley asked. “Is here not the proper place to pray – will that be the next argument? Where ultimately is not the proper place to pray?”

Thoughtcrime now a reality in the UK

In 2018, a Home Office review, commissioned to assess whether there was a need to introduce “buffer zones”, concluded that such a measure “would not be a proportionate response”.

Despite the Home Office conclusion, the vilification of pro-life activity around abortion facilities has increased in recent years, leading to the introduction of buffer zones by several councils in England.

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, 45, a pro-life Catholic woman and UK director of March for Life, has since been arrested twice for praying silently outside an abortion facility subject to a so-called Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), or buffer zone.

The first arrest took place on 6 December, last year, in Birmingham, England. Ms Vaughan-Spruce has since been acquitted following her first arrest. The outcome of her second arrest has yet to be determined.

SPUC helped supporters and advocates of free speech send messages of solidarity to Ms Vaughan-Spruce, who received over a thousand communications from well-wishers.

Commenting on her arrest, Ms Vaughan-Spruce said: “It’s abhorrently wrong that I was arrested, brought into cells, searched and humiliated by police simply for praying in the privacy of my own mind… Nobody should be criminalised for thinking, for praying, in a public space in the UK.”

Last October, a senior Home Office minister admitted that the Government was “unable” to say whether buffer zones in England and Wales are “presently compatible” with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

An ECHR memorandum has stated that buffer zones may be in breach of multiple ECHR articles, including the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (article 9), the right to freedom of expression (article 10) and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others (article 11).

SPUC slams “outrageous assault on civil liberties”

Alithea Williams, SPUC’s Public Policy Manager, said: “It is very disappointing that MPs have rejected even this modest amendment, which was trying to ensure that thoughtcrime was not enshrined in UK law. Introducing buffer zones already means that ordinary citizens will be branded criminals and subject to crippling financial penalties for witnessing peacefully and offering help to women in need.

“Yesterday, a majority of MPs proved that they approve of arresting people even for silent prayer. They heard the outrageous example of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce being arrested for silently praying in Birmingham and decided this needed to happen nationwide.

“This is not just an outrageous assault on civil liberties, it removes a real lifeline for women. Many children are alive today because their mothers received help and support from a compassionate pro-life person outside a clinic. Many women feel pressured or coerced into having an abortion, and pro-life vigils give them options. Now their choices have been taken away.

“SPUC nevertheless commends the valiant efforts of MPs such as Sir John Hayes who opposed the terrible precedent that has now been set. These MPs spoke out, not only on behalf of mothers and their unborn children, but they also spoke for all of us and our right to free speech, free thought and prayer.”