UK: charges dropped against pro-life activist who prayed silently outside abortion center
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested last March while praying silently outside an abortion clinic in Birmingham. The police have just confirmed that no charges will be brought against her and have apologized to her.
“You said you prayed, which is an offence,” police told Isabel Vaughan-Spruce on March 6 when she was arrested while she was silently praying outside a clinic. who performs abortions in Birmingham, England.
Christian today reports that the arrest came only weeks after a court cleared her of all charges in another similar case relating to silent prayer.
After several months of waiting, the police confirmed that no charges would be brought against her and apologized to her.
The move follows an open letter to Home Affairs Minister Suella Braverman earlier this month which stated that "silent prayer, in itself, is not illegal" and that "having opinions lawful, even if these opinions may offend others, is not a crime.
While Isabel Vaughan-Spruce welcomes the police's decision, she believes she "should never have been arrested or investigated simply for the thoughts" she had in mind. “Silent prayer is never criminal,” she stressed.
"It's not 1984, it's 2023. I should never have been arrested or investigated simply for the thoughts I had in my mind. Silent prayer is never criminal."
Now that she has been exonerated and "authorities have twice concluded that silent prayer is not a crime", she says she is determined to resume her silent prayers "for women in critical pregnancy situations".
For her legal adviser, Jeremiah Igunnubole, of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF UK), "the arduous process of this criminal ordeal was Isabel's punishment". He further believes that "his story has made the world aware that fundamental freedoms are vulnerable around the world."
Camille Westphal Perrier
