In Britain, it can be a crime to think the wrong thoughts in the wrong place. It sounds absurd—not to mention Orwellian—but a handful of people have been arrested or charged in the country simply for praying silently near abortion clinics.
This month, a British man was convicted of criminal charges for praying silently near an abortion clinic. The man, Adam Smith-Connor did not attempt to harass, intimidate, or interact in any way with those entering the clinic. Instead, he wordlessly prayed with his head bowed slightly. He wasn’t even on clinic property—he was outside the sightline of the clinic itself, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a religious freedom group.
As a result, Smith-Connor was questioned by police and later charged with violating a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), a broad censorship order enabled by the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. Under this law, local authorities can obtain special status for some public places, allowing them to ban a huge range of conduct. In the name of limiting “anti-social behavior,” British towns have obtained PSPOs to ban the homeless from sleeping outside or to ban swearing.
Several cities have used this law to place “buffer zones” around local abortion clinics. The PSPO in Smith-Connor’s case not only banned “intimidating or harassing” those working at or seeking services from the clinic but also barred individuals from engaging in “prayer,” “[sprinkling] holy water on the ground,” and “[crossing] themselves.”
Smith-Connor violated this order in November 2022. He was convicted, and sentenced earlier this month to a “conditional discharge”—similar to probation—and ordered to pay approximately $11,709 in prosecution fees, according to the ADF.
The court’s reasoning betrayed the absurdly censorious nature of the local law. “In its decision, the court reasoned that his prayer amounted to ‘disapproval of abortion’ because at one point his head was seen slightly bowed and his hands were clasped,” according to the ADF.
“He was capable of being seen, he was engaged in prayer and it would have been perceptible to an observer,” said Judge Orla Austin, The Telegraph reported. “He said he would not be looking at anyone so he could not breach their privacy but I find his presence and the circumstances could cause detrimental impact.”
Smith-Connor is far from the first Briton to face legal consequences for silent prayer near an abortion clinic. In 2022, a woman in Birmingham, England was arrested for praying silently outside an abortion clinic. That same year, a priest was criminally charged for holding a sign reading “Praying for Freedom of Speech” near an abortion clinic, even though his sign had nothing to do with abortion rights.
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