Silent prayer outside abortion clinics to be banned as buffer zones come into effect at end of October

Buffer zones outside abortion clinics in England and Wales will come into force at the end of October – including a ban on people holding silent prayer vigils outside.

The move comes more than a year after MPs voted in favour of a law aimed at ensuring women are not harassed outside clinics.

Delays in implementation under the previous Conservative government centred on the issue of silent prayer, with the new Labour administration now abandoning draft guidance that would have allowed it in proposed “safe access zones”.

Campaigners supporting the new measures fear the law would be watered down in practice if silent prayer were not also banned.

Anti-abortion groups have argued that it would threaten their rights to freedom of expression and religious belief.

The new law bans protests within 150 metres of clinics or hospitals providing abortion services in both countries, under the Public Order Act, which received royal assent on May 2 last year.

The Interior Ministry said the zones will come into effect from October 31.

The law will make it unlawful for a person to do anything that is considered to intentionally or recklessly influence another person’s decision to use abortion services, to interfere with them or to cause harassment or distress to a person using or working in those premises.

It is understood that silent prayer could be caught by this scope, while police will have discretion to decide whether the behaviour meets the threshold for prosecution, which carries the maximum penalty of an unlimited fine.

Guidance will be published in the coming weeks by the College of Policing and the Crown Prosecution Service to “ensure clarity and consistency in the application of the new offence”, the Home Office said.

The maximum penalty for anyone found guilty is a fine of any amount.

Social Protection Minister Jess Phillips said: “The right to access abortion services is a fundamental right for women in this country, and no one should feel unsafe when seeking access.

“We will not stand by and tolerate harassment, abuse and intimidation as people exercise their legal right to health care, which is why we have fast-tracked this measure to be put in place and implemented without further delay.

“For too long, abortion clinics have been denied these vital protections, and this government is committed to doing everything it can to make this country a safer place for women.”

Women’s Health Minister Baroness Merron said: “The safety and wellbeing of women accessing abortion services remains our priority.

“No woman should feel afraid or threatened when accessing these services, and it is absolutely right that they are protected from any abuse or harassment.

“This government will continue to work closely with NHS England, abortion providers and the wider sector to ensure women have access to safe, high-quality abortion services.”

Heidi Stewart, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said she was “hopeful” that concerns about silent prayer had been addressed.

She added: “For the safety, dignity and well-being of women accessing health care, we must ensure that all forms of harassment are prohibited outside of abortion clinics.”

Louise McCudden, of MSI Reproductive Choices, said the new zones would protect women and frontline health workers.

She said: “Regardless of your personal views on abortion, no one should be harassed when accessing health care.”

But Catherine Robinson, a spokeswoman for Right To Life UK, said the zones threatened to remove “the vital practical support provided by volunteers outside abortion clinics, which helps provide real choice and offers help to women who may be experiencing coercion”.

And Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal adviser to religious rights group ADF International, called the new laws “disproportionate and ill-defined.”

He said: “Three people have already been prosecuted in the last two years for nothing more than silently praying in their minds near an abortion clinic.

“We are all firmly opposed to harassment, but the government’s ban on ‘influencing’ is open to abuse.

“Unless it is clearly established that there is a protected human right to freedom of thought and the ability to engage in consensual conversations, innocent people could be unjustly criminalized.”

A law creating buffer zones around abortion clinics in Scotland, banning any protests or vigils, is due to come into force next Tuesday.

In Northern Ireland, safe access zones at health facilities providing abortion and birth control services came into force last September.

Last month, a Christian charity volunteer was awarded £13,000 compensation and an apology from police after she was arrested for praying silently outside an abortion clinic.

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce has filed a complaint against West Midlands Police for two counts of wrongful arrest and unlawful restraint, assault and battery in connection with an intrusive search of her person and for breach of her human rights in 2022 and 2023.

Ms Vaughan-Spruce was first arrested in November 2022 for praying in a “buffer zone” outside BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham.

Just weeks after being found not guilty by Birmingham Crown Court, she was arrested a second time for praying silently outside the same clinic in February 2023.

West Midlands Police officers then told her that “engaging in prayer” was “the offence” after she insisted she was “not protesting”.

But police later said there would be “no further investigation” into the incident and apologised to the victim.