‘Buffer zone’ law banning anti-abortion protests comes into force in England and Wales

With Madalaine Elhabbal

Washington, DC Newsroom, October 31, 2024 / 4:10 pm

A national “buffer zone” law came into force in England and Wales on Thursday 31 October, banning protests outside abortion facilities.

On the same day the new law was introduced, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) issued new guidelines clarifying that silent prayer in the abortion buffer zone was not “necessarily” an offence. Press release The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is from the UK.

The implementation of the national buffer zone law comes a year after Parliament passed the Public Order Act 2023. new law It makes it a criminal offense to “interfere with any person’s decision to access, provide, or facilitate the provision of abortion services” within 150 meters (almost 500 feet) of an abortion facility.

The law also makes it illegal to take any action that “causes harassment or distress to anyone using or working on these facilities.”

Previously, buffer zones were implemented in just five councils in the UK. The penalty for violating the Public Order Law is imprisonment for up to six months and an unlimited fine.

The law was the subject of debate and debate in the halls of parliament for months leading up to its introduction, due to questions about what could be interpreted as harassment after several pro-life protesters faced prosecution for silent prayers outside abortion clinics.

Prior to the CPS’s announcement, ADF UK had launched a campaign. petition Last week, British Prime Minister Kier Starmer Nearly 60,000 signatures were collectedThe petition asked him to refrain from enacting the law, which it claimed was responsible for “creating thought crimes”, citing the arrest of people praying silently outside abortion clinics.

Pro-life activist Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, director of March for Life UK, described the decision to pass the legislation as a “national disgrace”.

Similarly, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) UK described the passage of the law as “a shameful day for England and Wales” and “a chilling moment in British history”.

Former military officer and pro-life demonstrator Adam Smith-Connor, who was recently convicted of silent prayer, also took to social media with a video statement in light of the implementation of the new law.

“As buffer zones have been established across the country and CPS guidance recognizes that silent prayer is not ‘necessarily’ a criminal offence, I am pleased to confirm that I am appealing my conviction,” he said in a post on X.

Smith-Connor was convicted on October 16 after Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council accused him of praying in the buffer zone of an abortion clinic.

Madalaine Elhabbal is a staff reporter for the Catholic News Agency in EWTN’s Washington, D.C. bureau. He was published by CatholicVote and also worked as a foreign language assistant in France. He is a graduate of Benedictine College.