UK Silent Prayer Arrests Prompt International Embarrassment
30th May 2024
Ireland was embarrassed recently when the country, via referendum, rejected an amendment to its Constitution that would have revoked a special consideration supporting motherhood. The government was so red-faced by that loss that the prime minister stepped down.
Yet it’s hard to think of a more embarrassing law than one that would lead to arresting people for silently praying on public streets. Such a law rightfully conjures up notions of “thoughtcrime” and dystopias such as in the movie “Minority Report.” Such a law should rightfully be ridiculed.
But that is just what many in the United Kingdom seem to want. Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a longtime pro-life leader with March for Life UK, was arrested in December 2022 for silently praying within an abortion clinic “buffer zone.” A widely shared video shows a Birmingham police officer asking Vaughan-Spruce, “Are you praying?” as she stands quietly within the buffer zone, to which she replies: “I might be praying in my head.” Immediately after, the officer informs her that she is under arrest.