{"id":1785407,"date":"2022-12-23T17:48:43","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T22:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1785407"},"modified":"2022-12-23T17:48:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T22:48:46","slug":"praying-woman-arrested-for-breaking-public-space-order-outside-u-k-abortion-clinic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/praying-woman-arrested-for-breaking-public-space-order-outside-u-k-abortion-clinic\/","title":{"rendered":"Praying Woman Arrested For Breaking Public Space Order Outside U.K. Abortion Clinic"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpraying-woman-arrested-for-breaking-public-space-order-outside-u-k-abortion-clinic%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1785407&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/u-k\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">United Kingdom<\/a> authorities arrested a pro-life woman praying outside an abortion clinic for allegedly breaking a temporary Public Space Protection Order on four separate occasions earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a 45-year-old charity volunteer, was arrested and charged on four counts after she told police she \u201cmight\u201d be silently praying near the U.K.\u2019s leading provider of NHS-funded abortion services BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/news\/midlands-news\/isabel-vaughan-spruce-45-charged-25794626.amp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">local media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) published footage earlier this week showing authorities approaching Vaughan-Spruce outside the clinic. During the interaction, authorities questioned why Vaughn Spruce was standing outside the abortion facility \u201cof all places.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you standing here as part of a protest?\u201d asked the officer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, I\u2019m not protesting,\u201d Vaughan-Spruce said.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cAre you praying?\u201d the police officer asked her.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cI might be praying in my head,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">ADF <a href=\"https:\/\/adf.uk\/woman-charged-for-thoughtcrime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> authorities confronted the woman after receiving complaints from an observer who suspected that Vaughan-Spruce was praying silently in her mind.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Following her arrest, Vaughan-Spruce told ADF that it was \u201cabhorrently wrong\u201d that authorities searched, arrested, interrogated, and charged her \u201csimply for praying in the privacy of my own mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cNobody should ever be subject to harassment,\u201d she said. \u201cBut what I did was the furthest thing from harmful. I was exercising my freedom of thought, my freedom of religion, inside the privacy of my own mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cNobody should be criminalized for thinking and for praying in a public space in the U.K.,\u201d Vaughan-Spruce added.<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Police arrested Vaughan-Spruce on December 6 and subsequently charged her on December 15 with four counts of failing to comply with a Public Space Protection Order in so-called censorship zones, which authorities introduced to criminalize individuals appearing to be \u201cengaging in any act of approval or disapproval or attempted act of approval or disapproval.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Such acts include \u201cverbal or written means, prayer or counseling\u201d in relation to abortion, according to ADF U.K.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Birmingham City Council officials enforced the order earlier this year, which local media <a href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/news\/midlands-news\/calls-end-years-anti-abortion-23786305\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> bans explicitly protesting abortion outside clinics after members of the \u201c40 Days For Life\u201d anti-abortion group began repeatedly posting up outside the center.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Police said such protests reportedly led to verbal and physical confrontations.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF U.K. supporting Vaughan-Spruce, said, \u201cIsabel\u2019s experience should be deeply concerning to all those who believe that our hard-fought fundamental rights are worth protecting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cIt is truly astonishing that the law has granted local authorities such wide and unaccountable discretion, that now even thoughts deemed \u2018wrong\u2019 can lead to a humiliating arrest and a criminal charge,\u201d Igunnubole said.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Daily Signal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2022\/12\/22\/are-you-praying-authorities-arrest-woman-silently-praying-outside-abortion-clinic\/\">reported<\/a> that Scottish communications officer for ADF U.K. Lois McLatchie said in a statement that \u201cno citizen should be criminalized for legitimate, peaceful activity, even prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cIsabel\u2019s case demonstrates just how far the state can go if we do not vigilantly guard fundamental rights and freedoms,\u201d McLatchie said.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Vaughn-Spruce posted bail and will appear at Birmingham Magistrates\u2019 Court on February 2.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The arrest follows two other incidents within the last two years where local police told a praying woman in <a href=\"https:\/\/adf.uk\/bournemouth-prayer-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Southern England<\/a> to leave despite standing outside the local censorship zone, and a\u00a0<a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/adf.uk\/public-prayer-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">grandmother from Liverpool<\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0was arrested and fined for praying silently near an abortion facility on a walk during COVID lockdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>United Kingdom authorities arrested a pro-life woman praying outside an abortion clinic for allegedly breaking a temporary Public Space Protection Order on four separate occasions earlier this month. Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a 45-year-old charity volunteer, was arrested and charged on four counts after she told police she \u201cmight\u201d be silently praying near the U.K.\u2019s leading provider &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":429,"featured_media":1785410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[9369,6962,4310,4376,3997,11349,6202,4096,11531,11530,3799,5088,9425,6195,3983],"class_list":["post-1785407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-for","tag-the","tag-abortion","tag-arrested","tag-breaking","tag-clinic","tag-daily","tag-order","tag-outside","tag-praying","tag-public","tag-space","tag-u-k","tag-wire","tag-woman"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1785407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1785407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1785407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1785410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1785407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1785407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1785407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}