Britain Convicts Christian For Praying Near Abortion Clinic (Worthy News Focus)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
LONDON (Worthy News) – A Christian man is considering appealing his conviction in Britain for silently praying near an abortion clinic.
In comments obtained by Worthy News on Wednesday, Adam Smith-Connor, 51, said, “The court has decided that certain thoughts – silent thoughts – can be illegal in the United Kingdom. That can not be right.”
In what his supporters called “a shock ruling,” the Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court gave Smith-Connor “a conditional discharge” and ordered him to pay prosecution costs of 9,000 British pounds ($11,631).
Experts said the “conditional discharge” meant that Smith-Connor would only be sentenced if convicted of any future offenses within the next two years.
Smith-Cornor was prosecuted as he had been praying inside a “buffer zone” at an abortion clinic in England’s coastal resort town of Bournemouth in November 2022, Worthy News learned.
The area’s Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole Council charged Smith-Connor, a military veteran and father of two who fought in Afghanistan, after “an interrogation on the nature of his prayers,” his lawyers said.
THOUGHT POLICE
The Alliance Defending Freedom UK (ADF UK), the legal group representing Smith-Connor, said the interrogation began when he stopped praying for a few minutes.
He was “confronted by officers who asked ‘what is the nature of your prayer?’, on a public green within a large “buffer zone”-an area covering several streets in the town,” recalled AFD UK in a statement.
In the so-called “buffer zone,” authorities “have banned various expressions of pro-life or Christian belief, including through offering help to women in crisis pregnancies or praying,” the AFD UK added.
Five councils across Britain already have active “buffer zones” or “censorship zones” banning prayer and offers of charitable help to women on the public streets near abortion facilities, the group explained.
Britain’s Parliament voted to roll out “buffer zones” around every abortion facility in England and Wales as part of the Public Order Act 2023.
“The Labour Government announced plans to implement the zones on October 31. Under the national law, “influencing” someone’s decision to “access” abortion services will become a crime,” the AFD UK said.
However, “All I did was pray to God, in the privacy of my own mind – and yet I stand convicted as a criminal?” countered Smith Connor. “I served for 20 years in the army reserves, including a tour in Afghanistan, to protect the fundamental freedoms that this country is built upon,” he stressed.
CHURCH VOLUNTEER
“I continue that spirit of service as a health care professional and church volunteer. It troubles me greatly to see our freedoms eroded to the extent that thought crimes are now being prosecuted in the UK.”
The AFD UK wondered why “despite battling bankruptcy warnings and being forced to cut ‘all non-essential spending,’ Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council spent more than 90,000 pounds ($116,284) on legal fees to prosecute the offense, which carries a maximum penalty of 1,000 pounds ($1,292).”
The defense contended that the defendant’s “prayerful thoughts and the fact that he held certain beliefs and opinions could not in themselves amount to a crime, particularly when he stood peacefully and silently on a public street.”
The AFD UK stressed that Smith-Connor “did not outwardly manifest his prayer by kneeling, speaking, or holding any signs. He made every effort to be out of the line of sight of the abortion facility, positioned behind a tree with his back to the facility, and did not engage with any other person.”
Jeremiah Igunnubole, the legal counsel for ADF UK, called the conviction that Christian man for praying “a legal turning point of immense” proportions.
“A man has been convicted today because of the content of his thoughts – his prayers to God – on the public streets of England,” he complained.
“We can hardly sink any lower in our neglect of basic fundamental freedoms of free speech and thought,” Igunnubole said. “We will look closely at the judgment and consider options to appeal. Human rights are for all people – no matter their view on abortion.”
NO 1984?
British Conservative politician Miriam Cates compared the case to the dystopian novel and cautionary tale “1984” by English writer Eric Arthur Blair, better known as George Orwell.
“This isn’t 1984, but 2024 – nobody should be on trial for the mere thoughts they hold in their mind. It’s outrageous that the local council is pouring taxpayer funding into prosecuting a thoughtcrime at a time where resources are stretched thin,” she said.
“Buffer zone regulations are disproportionately wide, leaving innocent people vulnerable to prosecution merely for offering help or simply holding their own beliefs.”
It comes amid a broader debate in Britain and other European countries about “pro-life” Christians opposing abortions.
Scotland, for instance, has enacted new abortion legislation that could criminalize praying at home within designated zones.
The Abortion Services Act (Scotland) 2024 may result in prosecution for activities
in own homes if these actions cause “harassment, alarm, or distress” to staff and patients at abortion clinics, local media reported this week.
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