In the days leading up to Christmas, West Midlands Police and the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service pressed criminal charges against Isabel Vaughan-Spruce for silently praying outside an abortion clinic.

This latest development is the first charge under the new “buffer zones” law in the UK, which took effect in late 2024. Since January, the pro-life volunteer had been under investigation for engaging in silent prayer on a public street close to an abortion clinic in Birmingham.

Ms Vaughan-Spruce, who was the keynote speaker at the Pro Life Campaign’s National Conference last October in Dublin, was previously cleared in court and received a police payout for having been unjustly arrested twice over her silent prayers.

Responding just before Christmas to a parliamentary question from former Home Secretary Suella Braverman MP about Vaughan-Spruce’s case, the UK’s Attorney General stated that the Crown Prosecution Service has brought a single case under Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023 since the legislation came into effect on 31 October 2024.

At the time the written response was issued, Ms Vaughan-Spruce had not been informed of the criminal charge, but learned of it several hours later via a letter from West Midlands Police.

Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF International, who have supported Vaughan-Spruce’ legal defence, said: “’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.”

We in the Pro Life Campaign in Ireland also stand firmly behind Isabel in her fight for justice, freedom of speech and assembly, and in her efforts to have all draconian and wholly inappropriate charges against her dismissed.