Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, the U.K. pro-lifer famously arrested for praying silently near an abortion clinic, discovered that she is being investigated by the police… for the third time.
In November 2022, Vaughan-Spruce was arrested by two police officers while standing on the sidewalk in Birmingham, England. She told them she was not protesting, saying, “I might be praying in my head, but I’ve said nothing out loud.” The video of her arrest went viral.
Just a few weeks later, she was arrested again for “silently thinking prayerful thoughts on a public street”; her case was dubbed by Alliance Defending Freedom UK, which is defending her, as “the first ‘thoughtcrime’ case prosecuted in 21st century Britain.”
After her first arrest, she was acquitted at the Birmingham Magistrate’s Court because the prosecution could not provide evidence (the prayer, of course, was happening in her mind). After her second arrest, she issued a claim against the West Midlands Police and won, receiving a payout of £13,000 “in acknowledgement of her unjust treatment and the breach of human rights.”
Spruce-Vaughan’s claim had successfully alleged “two wrongful arrests and false imprisonments; assault and battery in relation to an intrusive search of her person; and for a breach of her human rights both in respect to the arrests and to the onerous bail conditions imposed on her.” Despite that victory, she is being investigated a third time, and states that she feels “harassed” by law enforcement.
According to Christianity Today, West Midlands Police “have confirmed that a live investigation is underway” and that Spruce-Vaughan “had not received any formal notice that she was being investigated and only found out by accident when a complaint she lodged against the force for harassment was rejected on the grounds that there was currently a live investigation into her.”
Spruce-Vaughan has continued to pray near the Birmingham abortion clinic weekly, and Alliance Defending Freedom stated that police officers have watched her and “on regular occasions” approached her to ask if she is praying in her head.
“Despite being fully vindicated multiple times after being wrongfully arrested for my thoughts, it’s unbelievable that I am still being harassed by police for silently pray in that area, and yet again find myself under investigation for the same prayers I have said for 20 years,” Spruce-Vaughan said. “Silent prayer cannot possibly be a crime – everyone has the right to freedom of thought.”
According to West Midlands Police, “We are currently investigating allegations that a 48-year-old woman has interfered with access to or provision of abortion services between January and July this year, and are liaising with the Crown Prosecution Service as enquiries continue.”
It appears that this latest investigation into Spruce-Vaughan’s silent prayer comes as a result of the Crown Prosecution Service’s 2024 guidance on policing of so-called “buffer zones,” which make it a criminal offense to “influence any person’s decision to access or facilitate abortion services at an abortion clinic” within 150 meters around the clinic. Silent prayer may not technically be illegal; there has not yet been a test case establishing that fact.
“‘Buffer zones’ are among the most concerning frontiers of censorship in the modern west,” said Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF International. “We all stand against harassment and abuse, but the ‘buffer zone’ law broadly bans ‘influence’, which is being interpreted by police officers to target innocent people who happen to stand in a certain place and believe a certain thing. We will continue to robustly challenge this unjust censorship, and support Isabel’s right to think and believe freely.”
The UK’s persecution and prosecution of pro-lifers for the thought crime of silent prayer has so alarmed international watchers that in March the Trump administration took the extraordinary step in March of sending “a team of U.S. officials to the U.K. to investigate concerns over freedom of speech restrictions,” according to GB News.
Diplomats from the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor met with five British pro-lifers who had been arrested for silent prayer at clinics. The U.S. diplomats met with Adam Smith-Connor, the veteran arrested for praying near a clinic in Bournemouth; Catholic priest Father Sean Gough; Isabel Vaughan-Spruce; Livia Tossici-Bolt, arrested for silently holding a sign reading “Here to talk, if you want”; and Rose Docherty, the 74-year-old grandmother arrested outside Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
The harassment of Vaughan-Spruce by law enforcement has not successfully deterred her faithful, silent witness – and now, it appears, she will be a test case to determine whether the U.K. can successfully prosecute thoughtcrimes in 21st century England.
