Britain has banned protests outside abortion clinics, but silent prayer is a gray area

LONDON (AP) — A British ban on outdoor protests abortion The clinics went into effect on Thursday, although questions remain as to whether anti-abortion protesters praying silently will break the law.

The law, which applies to England and Wales, bans protests within 150 meters of clinics. Scotland and Northern Ireland, which set their own healthcare policies, recently introduced similar bans.

The new rules make it an offense to obstruct someone using abortion services, to ‘intentionally or recklessly’ influence their decision, or to cause ‘intimidation, alarm or anxiety’. Violators risk a fine, with no upper limit.

The buffer zone rule was passed 18 months ago as part of the previous Conservative government Public Order Actbut row over whether it would apply to silent prayer protests, and a change of government in July, delayed its entry into force.

The Crown Prosecution Service says silent prayer near an abortion clinic “will not necessarily commit a criminal offence”, and police say they will assess each case individually.

Anti-abortion activists and religious groups argue that banning silent prayer protests would be an affront to religious freedom. But pro-choice activists say silent anti-abortion protesters often intimidate women entering clinics.

“It is difficult to see how anyone who chooses to perform their prayers outside an abortion clinic could claim that they are not trying to influence people – and there are countless testimonies from women who say this makes them feel sad,” says Louise McCudden, head of the UK. of external affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices, one of Britain’s largest abortion providers.

In March 2023, lawmakers rejected a proposed change to legislation by some conservative lawmakers that would have explicitly allowed silent prayer within the buffer zones. The final rules represent a potentially messy compromise that will likely be tested in court.

Crime and Policing Secretary Diana Johnson said she was “confident that the safeguards we put in place today will have a real impact on helping women feel safer and empowered to access the essential services they need.” need.”

But Bishop John Sherrington of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said the government had “taken an unnecessary and disproportionate step backwards” on religious freedom.

“Religious freedom includes the right to express one’s personal beliefs in public through testimony, prayer and charitable activities, including outside abortion centers,” he said.

Abortion is not as divisive an issue in Britain as it is in the US, where women’s access to terminate their pregnancies has been rolled back and banned in some states since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in 2022.

Abortion was partially legalized in Britain by the 1967 Abortion Act, which allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy if two doctors approve. Later abortions are allowed under certain circumstances, including danger to the mother’s life.

But women who have an abortion after 24 weeks in England and Wales can be prosecuted under the 1861 Offenses Against the Person Act. Last year a 45-year-old woman in England was sentenced to 28 months in prison for ordering abortion pills online to induce a miscarriage when she was 32 to 34 weeks pregnant. After a protest, her sentence was reduced.