Pro-life campaigner Isabel Vaughan-Spruce has been told by police that her “mere presence” near an abortion centre is causing harassment.
In video footage, Miss Vaughan-Spruce, Co-Director of March at Life UK, 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.
New rules came into effect in England and Wales on 31 October which ban offers of help to pregnant women within 150m of buildings where abortions take place.
Leave
In a brief exchange with the officer, Miss Vaughan-Spruce explains: “Police have told me before that I am allowed in this area.”
He replies that as she is 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 his request that she leaves.
🚨BREAKING: West Midlands Police have AGAIN targeted Isabel Vaughan-Spruce.
Changing tact from going after her prayers, they now claim her “mere presence” is “harassment”.
Nobody should be banned from a public area just because of their beliefs.
THIS is two-tier policing. pic.twitter.com/J7z5VVzh6P
— ADF International (@ADFIntl) February 10, 2025
‘Viewpoint discrimination’
Commenting on the incident, Miss Vaughan-Spruce said: “Every person has a right to stand in a public space and think what they want.
“The police officer told me that my ‘mere presence’ was offensive – that’s nothing short of viewpoint discrimination. He believes that just because I hold pro-life beliefs, I am automatically a criminal in certain public areas. This isn’t right.”
Jeremiah Igunnubole of Alliance Defending Freedom UK, the religious liberty organisation which has previously defended Vaughan-Spruce successfully, observed: “The idea that the state can interrogate citizens and instruct them to leave certain public areas based on their pro-life beliefs and associations is profoundly chilling”.
Last year, prior to the introduction of new legislation, the pro-life campaigner received £13,000 and an apology from West Midlands Police after being wrongfully arrested under local council regulations for silently praying outside an abortion clinic.
Censorship
Pro-life witness outside abortion centres 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, or holding a silent ‘prayer vigil’.
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.
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