The UK has extended its so-called ‘buffer zone’ law to apply to the area around every abortion facility nationwide from 31 October.

The national law, which applies to England and Wales, makes it a crime to “influence” someone’s decision to “access” abortion services within 150 metres, or nearly 500 feet, of any abortion facility, which critics claim it is a violation of freedom of speech and thought.

The move comes after nearly 60,000 people signed a open letter asked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to protect freedom of thought, according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) UKwhich supports the legal defense of four people prosecuted for praying or offering help in “safe access” or “buffer” zones.

“It is an offense for a person who is in a safe access area to do an act with the intent to … influence the decision of any person to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services at a clinic abortion.” The Public Order Law of 2023 provides:.

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Last week, Adam Smith-Connor, a military veteran and father of two, was condemned for silent prayer — a “thought crime,” as some have called it — after stopping to pray for a few minutes near an abortion facility in November 2022, according to ADF UK. The court sentenced him to a conditional discharge and ordered him to pay prosecution costs of £9,000.

Smith-Connor announced on Thursday, the same day buffer zones were introduced nationally, that she would appeal against her conviction after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) published new guidance clarifying that silent prayer is “not necessarily ” a crime in an abortion “buffer zone”. according to ADF UK.

Adam Smith-Connor. (Alliance Defending Freedom UK)

“Government simply cannot be allowed to dictate the content of thoughts and prayers,” Smith-Connor said when her appeal was announced.

“I served 20 years in the Army Reserves, including a tour in Afghanistan, to protect the fundamental freedoms this country is built on,” he added. “I continue that spirit of service as a health care professional and church volunteer. It really bothers me to see our freedoms being eroded to the extent that thought crimes are now being prosecuted in the UK.”

Even as local government district Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council faced bankruptcy and was forced to cut “all non-essential expenditure”, it spent more than £100,000 on legal fees to prosecute the offense with a maximum penalty of £1,000 pounds sterling, according to ADF UK.

In particular, the law’s vague wording drew criticism from free speech advocates, including ADF UK Legal Adviser Jeremiah Igunnubolewhich argued that the law’s vague language could be used to restrict consensual conversation or silent prayer. He also argued that the law goes beyond cracking down on harassment and intimidation by broadly and vaguely prohibiting the act of “influence.”

UK WOMAN threatened with fine for praying in ‘BUFFER ZONE’ OF ABORTION FACILITY: “GROSS ORWELLIAN”

“Could this apply to advice given by a parent? A worried word from a friend? Information provided through a crisis pregnancy volunteer?” he said. “The law is so loosely written that peaceful, consensual conversations or even silent thoughts could be illegal on certain streets in England.”

Igunnubole said that consensual conversation or silent prayer constitute the most basic human rights, which are strongly protected by international legal provisions.

“The whole premise of censorship buffer legislation is that women should be able to choose to have access to abortion without hindrance,” he said. — The legal elephant in the room should be obvious.

Isabel Vaughn-Spruce. (Alliance Defending Freedom UK)

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“If the law provides that a woman can choose to abort her unborn child without hindrance, even the ‘barrier’ of legal alternatives to abortion, how can the law criminalize women when they choose to engage in legal, harmless, consensual conversations?” he asked.

Women like Alina Dulgheriu, who decided not to have an abortion after receiving a leaflet from a pro-life volunteer on a public street near an abortion facility, said the censorship zone denied vulnerable women access to “information that life changing

“Removing the option of getting help to keep a child if we feel offended is deeply patronizing and assumes that women can’t make a decision for ourselves or that we might choose the wrong option,” she said.

“My case is not unique,” she added. “There are many hundreds of women like me who have benefited from this support. However, we are all too often ignored.”

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was the pro-life activist and charity volunteer arrested twice for praying silently in her head outside an abortion facility in a “buffer zone” in Birmingham, England. After being found not guilty at trial, Vaughan-Spruce was later given a police payout due to her illegal arrests.

In response to the new law, Vaughn-Spruce described it as “deeply troubling to see vaguely worded legislation that could punish people like me who are just there to help, to speak peacefully or to pray.”

“The government should urgently clarify that consensual conversations between adults – and silent thoughts and prayers – are protected under domestic and international law,” she said. “This isn’t 1984 – we don’t need to police thought on Britain’s streets.”

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