Gove backs silent prayer in abortion censorship zones

Christians should be able to pray silently within abortion censorship zones without being arrested, former Justice Secretary Michael Gove has said.

Gove told GB News he personally believed it was “wrong to say that someone cannot pray silently” near an abortion centre because of their pro-life views.

Last month, Co-Director at March for Life UK Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was informed by police that her “mere presence” near an abortion centre constituted harassment.

Freedom of religion

Gove considered it acceptable to pray silently inside a censorship zone as a matter of freedom of conscience and religion. He added that prayer could not be viewed as “genuine intimidation”.

Jeremiah Igunnubole of Alliance Defending Freedom International, the religious liberty organisation that has successfully defended Vaughan-Spruce for silently praying outside an abortion centre, welcomed Gove’s comments.

Igunnubole expressed astonishment that peaceful Christians were being criminalised because they “simply want to pray” and called for “basic standards of human rights” to be restored.

Leave

In footage released last month, Miss Vaughan-Spruce is informed by a West Midlands Police Officer that she cannot silently stand within a Government-imposed censorship zone simply because she holds “anti-abortion” views.

In a brief exchange with Miss Vaughan-Spruce, the police officer explains that as the leader of an “anti-abortion organisation”, her presence within the censorship zone is causing people “harassment, alarm and distress”.

After telling the pro-life campaigner, “You know you shouldn’t be here”, he asks Miss Vaughan-Spruce to leave the 150m zone. Although she clarifies to the policeman that she is only “silently saying some prayers”, he persists in telling her to leave.

Last year, army veteran Adam Smith-Connor was found guilty of silently praying near an abortion centre in Bournemouth.

Censorship

Pro-life witness outside abortion centres, including offers of help to vulnerable women, is now banned across the UK and Ireland.

Under the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act, which came into effect in Scotland last year, people risk an unlimited fine for handing out pro-life literature within 200m of a centre, speaking to anyone about abortion, holding a silent ‘prayer vigil’, or even praying within their own homes.

In the Republic of Ireland, the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Act 2024 bans any pro-life presence within 100 metres of facilities where abortion services are provided, including abortion centres, women’s health clinics, and GP surgeries.

And in 2023, Northern Ireland also introduced censorship zones criminalising anyone who hands out pro-life literature or speaks to anyone about abortion within a 100-250m radius of an abortion centre or hospital.