A Christian woman who has twice been cleared over silent prayer near an abortion clinic says she feels "harassed" by police after discovering that she is under investigation for a third time.
West Midlands Police have confirmed that a live investigation is underway into Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a pro-life campaigner who has been praying and offering help to women outside abortion clinics for 20 years.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF UK), which is supporting her, said she had not received any formal notice that she was being investigated and only found out by accident when a complaint she lodged against the force for harassment was rejected on the grounds that there was currently a live investigation into her.
Vaughan-Spruce has twice been arrested for praying silently near an abortion facility in Birmingham, allegedly breaching the terms of a 'buffer zone' in place around the site.
The buffer zone exists under a Public Spaces Protection Order and bans “expressions of approval or disapproval” of abortion.
After both previous arrests, the charges were dropped and she eventually won £13,000 in compensation from West Midlands Police for wrongful arrest.
As Vaughan-Spruce has continued to pray near the abortion facility on a weekly basis, ADF said that officers have been seen watching her pray silently and that "on regular occasions" she has been approached by officers and asked if she is praying.
Reacting to the news that she is under investigation again, Vaughan-Spruce commented: “Despite being fully vindicated multiple times after being wrongfully arrested for my thoughts, it’s unbelievable that I am still being harassed by police for silently pray in that area, and yet again find myself under investigation for the same prayers I have said for twenty years.
She added, "Silent prayer cannot possibly be a crime – everyone has the right to freedom of thought.”
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) last year published guidance on the policing of buffer zones after they were rolled out across England and Wales.
The zones make it a criminal offence to "influence any person's decision to access or facilitate abortion services at an abortion clinic" within 150m of an abortion facility. They also make it a crime to obstruct individuals from accessing abortion clinics, or "cause harassment, alarm or distress to any person in connection with a decision to access, provide or facilitate abortion services at an abortion clinic".
The guidance from the CPS suggested that praying silently within an abortion clinic buffer zone may not always be treated as a criminal act.
"A person who carries out any of these activities [including silent prayer] within a safe access zone will not necessarily commit a criminal offence," it states.
"Prosecutors will need to consider not only all the facts and circumstances of the particular conduct but also the context in which the conduct takes place."
The guidance was issued just weeks after Adam Smith-Connor was prosecuted for praying silently in an abortion clinic buffer zone in Bournemouth. He was sentenced to a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £9,000 in costs.
West Midlands Police confirmed that it has approached the CPS for advice on next steps regarding Vaughan-Spruce.
ADF believes the investigation into Vaughan-Spruce to be the first real test case of the CPS guidance.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF International, said: “’Buffer zones’ are among the most concerning frontiers of censorship in the modern west.
"We all stand against harassment and abuse, but the ‘buffer zone’ law broadly bans 'influence', which is being interpreted by police officers to target innocent people who happen to stand in a certain place and believe a certain thing.
"We will continue to robustly challenge this unjust censorship, and support Isabel’s right to think and believe freely.”
West Midlands Police said: "We are currently investigating allegations that a 48-year-old woman has interfered with access to or provision of abortion services between January and July this year, and are liaising with the Crown Prosecution Service as enquiries continue."
