A woman convicted for praying in an abortion centre ‘exclusion’ zone in Northern Ireland says she will challenge the court’s ruling.
Pro-life campaigner, Claire Brennan, was this week convicted of protesting in the safe access buffer zone at Coleraine Hospital in County Derry on 3rd October. She was fined £750 by Coleraine Magistrates’ Court.
During this week’s hearing, she argued that she had a right to protest, citing her right to freedom of religion under the European Convention of Human Rights. She had pleaded not guilty to both charges.
However, District Judge Peter King on Monday ruled that a 2022 ruling by the Supreme Court correctly balanced the rights of those praying or protesting outside places offering abortion, with those of women seeking abortion.
In 2021, a Stormont Bill to introduce ‘safe access zones’ ranging from 100 metres to 150 metres (extendable to 250m) around eight hospitals running abortion clinics was introduced and received backing from a majority of parties. The Bill had been introduced by former Green party MLA and abortion centre escort, Clare Bailey. It passed in March 2022 and was introduced last year.
All five Health and Social Care Trusts in the province have now enacted the zones.
Ms Brennan, from county Antrim, became the first person to be arrested under the law in October 2023. This week, she was fined £300 for unlawful protest, and a further £450 for refusing to leave the buffer zone.
Speaking after being convicted and ordered to pay a fine, the businesswoman told Gript that she intends to lodge an appeal within 21 days.
“If the appeal doesn’t go through then I will be bound by the court’s to pay the fine. I will not pay the fine and I will do up to one week in prison,” she said.
Ms Brennan thanked people for the prayer and support she says she has received from “all across Ireland and beyond.”
She said she believes the Stormont government has “abused its power” in passing the law, which she says “stops Christians from exercising their basic fundamental right, freedom of religion.”
The county Antrim woman likened the government to “more of a dictatorship than a government that serves the country for its greater good.”
“I believe they have betrayed me as a voter,” the 52-year-old added, stressing that her intention in praying outside the hospital had been to “stand in the gap” for unborn children.
“I am a Christian and a pro life activist so my moral duty is to stand in the gap for the least of these little ones,” she told the court after holding her Bible aloft and taking an oath.
During the hearing, she quoted the book of Proverbs, stating: “It is my duty to rescue those being led to death, to hold back those staggering toward slaughter.”
“These children are being blotted out. God had a plan for these children and it is my duty to stand in the gap and protect these children. So yes I was there. I was doing my duty just like a policeman or fireman who protects life.”
“The [government] have made a law that prohibits my right to worship, to speak the gospel to these women, to speak truth to them that their baby is a precious gift from God.”
She told the court that she had been praying “quietly but not silently” in the buffer zone, adding: “I intended to be the last prick of their conscience to help them to choose life.”
Video footage of her arrest released by the Christian Legal Centre showed Mrs Brennan praying on her knees at a traffic island opposite the hospital. She had rosary beads and was holding a sign which read: ‘Pray to End Abortion.’
There was also a banner which read ‘Ireland needs Fatima’ which had a picture of Mary on it. The sign said: “Praying for the Rosary for Ireland. Please join us. As human efforts fail to solve Ireland’s key problems we turn to God, through his holy mother, asking for his help.”
She, along with a colleague, were praying the Rosary, the Apostles Creed and the Divine Mercy when police approached and asked Mrs Brennan to move outside of the buffer zone.
In response, she said: “Officer, you have a duty to uphold the law, and I have a duty to uphold God’s law. This is where we pray.” She added that: “We are not committing any offences.”
“In the eye of the law you are,” the officer had responded while accusing them of causing “harassment, alarm and distress.”
Mrs Brennan had responded: “The law of the land stops me from upholding the law of God. We pray for the babies who will be imminently killed in this hospital.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which has supported Ms Brennan said: “In Northern Ireland, it has been shown that laws restricting abortion saved more than 100,000 lives in the years from 1967 to 2016.
“For more than 50 years, the law in Northern Ireland only permitted abortion if it was necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman. The 1967 Abortion Act in England and Wales, which is widely interpreted to permit abortion on request, was not extended to NI.
“Since that law changed in March 2020, there has been a two and a half times increase in the annual number of abortions. This is a tragedy, and anyone who cares about protecting life should be especially concerned by what has happened in Northern Ireland in recent years.
“Buffer zones are an oppressive part of the current culture which force consent and silence dissent. The saddest thing of all is that we are actually talking about human lives.
“We stand with Claire as she fights for justice and believe the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act (Northern Ireland) 2023 must be repealed.”