Catholic anti-abortion activist ‘arrested for praying’ during protest outside clinic

A WOMAN has been arrested for the second time outside an abortion clinic, with police telling her that “praying is an offence”, having been acquitted for the same crime weeks beforehand.

Footage shared online showed Isabel Vaughan-spruce, a Catholic director of the anti-abortion group March for Life UK, being arrested outside the BPAS Robert Clinic in King’s Norton, Birmingham.

Rachael Clarke, chief of staff at BPAS, said that Ms Vaughan-spruce had visited the clinic several times knowing that she was in breach of the buffer zone around it, and had “escalated” her behaviour through attending the clinic while women were trying to access it.

The footage showed police officers asking Ms Vaughan-spruce to “step outside the exclusion zone” that exists around the clinic and she is heard to say she is “not protesting” and “not engaging in any of the activities prohibited”. The police said: “But you’ve said you’re engaging in prayer, which is the offence”, to which she replies: “Silent prayer.”

In a statement she said: “Only three weeks ago, it was made clear by the court that my silent prayers were not a crime. And yet, again, I have been arrested.”

Ms Vaughan-spruce was subject to bail conditions preventing her from going near the abortion facility.

West Midlands Police said: “This order was put in place by a court, following a joint application from West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council, to protect women from harassment by any means if they are seeking a medical procedure or advice at an abortion clinic.”

Ms Clarke said that Ms Vaughan-spruce “has visited the clinic several times in full knowledge that she is breaching the safe access zone around it”.

“She has done so with someone to film her and hand the footage to anti-abortion campaigners,” she added.

Yesterday, MPS rejected an amendment to The Public Order Bill tabled by backbenchers which sought to ensure no offence is committed if a person is “engaged in consensual communication or in silent prayer” within an abortion clinic buffer zone.

♦ The University of Stirling’s Catholic group has been suspended after publicly backing the 40 Days for Life campaign, a global six-week prayer vigil and fasting exercise staged outside abortion clinics. A social media post advertising the vigil prompted students’ union officers to suspend the society.

‘She has visited the clinic in full knowledge that she is breaching the safe access zone around it’