"Your mere presence is causing people harassment"
Christian charity volunteer Isabel Vaughan-Spruce has again been targeted by police for standing silently in a buffer zone. This time, police officers told her that her 'mere presence' was causing 'harassment' and therefore prohibited behaviour in the area. Buffer zone laws in the UK continue to allow serious attacks on basic human rights.
In August 2024, as reported by OIDAC Europe, Christian charity volunteer Isabel Vaughan-Spruce received a £13,000 payout and an apology from the police after she was arrested for silently praying outside an abortion clinic. The episode caused a big outcry around the world as a clear violation of human rights.
The UK's buffer zone laws are extremely vague in describing prohibited behaviour, criminalising any action that causes 'intimidation' or 'harassment' or is likely to 'influence a person's decision to access an abortion facility'. If, in the first incident, the police officers believed that silent prayer fell into this category, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce is now being targeted individually because of her known views on abortion. The police officer told Ms Vaughan-Spruce: "You are not allowed in this area because your mere presence is causing people harassment, alarm and distress. (...) and altough you're not saying anything, it's causing people harassment (...) because they know who you are."
Although recent guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service indicates that silent prayer in a 'buffer zone' is 'not necessarily' a crime, and that actions must be 'overt' to be considered as such, Ms Vaughan-Spruce has now been targeted not for her actions, not for her prayer, but for her mere presence. This is despite the fact that the law makes no reference to any kind of individual order.
Ms Vaughan-Spruce has already reacted to this latest incident: "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.”
Buffer zone laws are once again the basis for unprecedented attacks on fundamental freedoms.
Source: adfinternational.org
Image: adfinternational.org