The U.S. State Department has expressed strong support for a British woman who was charged this month for silently praying in an abortion buffer zone, saying it supported Ms Isabel Vaughan-Spruce and “all those who risk persecution for defending life, faith, and freedom”.
On December 17th, West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service criminally charged Ms Vaughan-Spruce because she “stood outside” an abortion facility, where “influence” is prohibited.
The charitable volunteer has been under investigation since January for engaging in silent prayer on a public street near an abortion facility in Birmingham.
This is the first charge under the new national “buffer zones”, which came into force in October 2024, under Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023.
The U.S. State Department said last night: “The United Kingdom has just charged charity worker Isabel Vaughan-Spruce under their “buffer zone” law for standing on a sidewalk and silently praying. Make no mistake – this undermines free speech and religious liberty. The United States supports Isabel and all those who risk persecution for defending life, faith, and freedom.”
British commentator Lois McLatchie Miller said that the support was “huge” and added “when you feel the authorities you’re under are stripping you of your most basic right to free speech, that overseas support can mean the world.
Alliance Defending Freedom, who are supporting Ms Vaughan-Spruce said that “all previous court cases regarding the status of silent prayer took place in the context of “buffer zones” enforced by local authorities via Public Spaces Protection Orders, rather than through this new law”.
The new national law prohibits “influencing any person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate abortion services” within 150m of abortion facilities, but does not mention silent prayer specifically.
CPS guidance on the law stipulates that silent prayer on its own is not enough to meet the threshold of criminality unless it is accompanied by “overt” activity, the legal group said.
On 18 March 2025, West Midlands Police informed Vaughan-Spruce she was under investigation for praying silently near the facility on 27th January, as well as several other subsequent dates. Vaughan-Spruce has been peacefully praying in the same public area on a regular basis for two decades.
Vaughan-Spruce, with legal support from ADF International, sent numerous requests for clarification in proceeding months as to the status of her case, pointing out that the legislation does not function as a ban on her mere presence or on holding pro-life Christian beliefs.
“Thoughtcrime”
In 2023, the charitable volunteer was acquitted in court after being arrested for praying in a local “buffer zone,” under a Public Spaces Protection Order that banned “expressions of approval or disapproval” of abortion. The incident occurred while the abortion facility was closed. The prosecution offered no evidence to support a conviction.
Despite being cleared of any wrongdoing, Vaughan-Spruce was arrested again for her silent thoughts in the same location weeks later in March 2023, opening an investigation that lasted several months. In August 2024, Vaughan-Spruce successfully challenged her two unjust arrests and received a settlement from West Midlands Police of £13,000.
On regular occasions, she has been approached by officers and asked if she is praying. Once, she was observed by two officers posted to watch her activities.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce said that “despite being fully vindicated multiple times after being wrongfully arrested for my thoughts, it’s unbelievable that I have yet again been charged for standing in that public area, and holding pro-life beliefs. Silent prayer – or holding pro-life beliefs – cannot possibly be a crime. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought.”
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF International, added: “Buffer zones’ are among the most concerning frontiers of censorship in the modern west. We all stand against harassment and abuse, but the ‘buffer zone’ law broadly bans ‘influence’ which is being interpreted by police officers to target innocent people who happen to stand in a certain place and believe a certain thing. We will continue to robustly challenge this unjust censorship, and support Isabel’s right to think and believe freely as is the right of every person in the UK.”
Irish legislation
In October 2024, similar legislation came into effect in Ireland with exclusion zones now in operation within 100 metres of abortion-providing facilities. The legislation, Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Act 2024, outlaws conduct “aimed at impeding access or influencing decisions in relation to” abortion within ‘Safe Access Zones’, with anyone prosecuted and found guilty facing fines and/or imprisonment.
A wide variety of behaviours are now considered to be criminal offences when conducted in exclusion zones with intent, or recklessly, including such things as pro-life protest and the display or distribution of pro-life materials.
The legislation can apply to a person’s private property if it falls within an exclusion zone, with the example provided on government websites of a person who will not be permitted to protest against abortion in their garden or doorway if it is within an exclusion zone and next to a public place.
An investigation by Gript’s Gary Kavanagh in January 2022 found that there were no record of complaints for pro-life vigils at any of Ireland’s maternity hospitals, with 18 out of 19 relevant hospitals or units responding to our request for comment.
“Sensational claims were made in the Seanad in February 2022 that rural GPs who have their offices in their homes have been subjected to unacceptable protests at their homes. There is simply not a shred of evidence to suggest that this has happened,” Seán Canney TD said at the time.
“In December 2021, UL Hospitals Group, clarified that it had no record of anti-abortion protests and had received no complaints from patients or staff. Limerick was often held up as the epicentre of pro-life protests. The type of activity going on in Limerick involves a small group of mostly women praying near the hospital. It is hardly the crime of the century, and such activity should not be treated as a crime.”
Deputy Canney said that the legislation “would even include criminalising certain private conversations. It would include prohibiting one from handing out a leaflet outside Trinity College which might contain pro-life information. It could even shut down debates in the college on abortion from either perspective.”
Deputy Carol Nolan said the law “criminalises help” – as she stated that those campaigning for the Bill “know that no harassment is taking place” outside GP surgeries or hospitals.
“They know that if any harassment were to happen, gardaí already have sufficient powers to deal with such a situation. There is a skyrocketing abortion rate in Ireland and that is a fact. Yet the Government spends its time caving in to the demands of the most extreme elements of the abortion-supporting lobby,” the Laois Offaly Independent said.
“It is unconscionable how the Minister has misled the public by claiming to engage in the widest possible consultation before making decisions,” Nolan said.
Mattie McGrath TD said at the time that while the legislation will have a “dramatic impact on civil liberties,” it has not been met with the scrutiny it deserves.
Aontú leader, Deputy Peadar Tóibín, blasted the legislation as a restriction on the human and civil right to protest, describing it as “ideological, and yet another step on the well-travelled road of this Government deleting human and civil rights”.