West Midlands Police will not bring charges against Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, director of the pro-life organization March for Life UK, who on March 6th was arrested for “engaging in prayer” in a so-called “buffer zone” surrounding an abortion facility on Station Road, Birmingham.
In such “buffer” zones, instituted by local authorities via a “Public Spaces Protection Order,” prayer, amongst other activities deemed to constitute a protest of abortion, is prohibited.
“This isn’t 1984, but 2023—I should never have been arrested or investigated simply for the thoughts I held in my own mind,” Vaughan-Spruce said, alluding to George Orwell’s dystopian novel. “Silent prayer is never criminal,” she said in a September 22nd statement, released by the legal advocacy organization ADF, which frequently handles the legal defense of such cases.
While she welcomed the police’s apology for the length of time it took to reach the decision, Vaughan-Spruce felt it
important to highlight the extremely harmful implications of this ordeal not just for myself, but for everyone concerned with fundamental freedoms in the UK. What happened to me signals to others that they too could face arrest, interrogation, investigation, and potential prosecution if caught exercising their basic freedom of thought.”
According to ADF UK’s statement, police initially told Vaughan-Spruce the delay was due to her case being referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for charges, though CPS has denied this claim.
The police’s decision comes after Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s September 2nd open letter which called to avoid politicized policing. Silent prayer, she stated, is “not unlawful,” after which she clarified that “holding lawful opinions, even if those opinions may offend others, is not a criminal offense.”
In December last year, Vaughan-Spruce experienced her first arrest after police spotted her standing silently near the BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham.
Subsequently, officers asked her whether she was praying. Although she could have opted to lie and say no, she decided to tell the truth, which led to her arrest and being charged. In February, authorities dropped their charges against her.
With authorities having now “twice settled on the conclusion that silent prayer is not a crime,” Vaughan-Spruce expressed gratitude for now being able to resume her “practice of praying silently for women in crisis pregnancies.”
Vaughan-Spruce is currently “considering options to pursue redress for her treatment at the hands of the police,” the statement concluded.
