The US state department has issued a statement saying it is "concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom" and that it is "monitoring" the case of a pro-life woman prosecuted for holding a sign offering help within an abortion clinic "buffer zone".
Livia Tossici-Bolt faced criminal trial this month for holding a sign that read "Here to talk, if you want" near an abortion facility. A verdict on her case is due on Friday.
The statement was issued by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, & Labor at a time when the UK has been hoping for a free trade agreement with the US.
“U.S.-UK relations share a mutual respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. However, as Vice President Vance has said, we are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom," the statement said.
“While recently in the UK, DRL Senior Advisor Sam Samson met with Livia Tossici-Bolt, who faces criminal charges for offering conversation within a legally prohibited ‘buffer zone’ at an abortion clinic.
"We are monitoring her case. It is important that the UK respect and protect freedom of expression.”
Responding to the state department's unusual intervention, Tossici-Bolt said she was "grateful" for the support from the US administration amid an increase in "censorship" in the UK.
"Great Britain is supposed to be a free country, yet I’ve been dragged through court merely for offering consensual conversation. Peaceful expression is a fundamental right—no one should be criminalised for harmless offers to converse," she said.
"It is tragic to see that the increase of censorship in this country has made the US feel it has to remind us of our shared values and basic civil liberties.
“I’m grateful to the US administration for prioritising the preservation and promotion of freedom of expression and for engaging in robust diplomacy to that end.
“It deeply saddens me that the UK is seen as an international embarrassment when it comes to free speech. My case, involving only a mere invitation to speak, is but one example of the extreme and undeniable state of censorship in Great Britain today.
“It is important that the government actually does respect freedom of expression, as it claims to.”
Vice-President Vance voiced concerns about freedom of expression across Europe but especially the UK during a recent speech to European leaders in Munich. He raised the case of another prosecuted pro-lifer, Adam Smith-Connor, who was convicted for praying silently in an abortion clinic buffer zone. An appeal against his conviction will be heard in July.
A verdict in the case of Tossici-Bolt will be handed down on Friday by District Judge Orla Austin, the same judge who found Smith-Connor guilty.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF International, which is supporting Tossici-Bolt and Smith-Connor, said that criminal prosecutions for silent prayer and consensual conversations were "not only illiberal, but also irresponsible" and putting relations with the US, a key ally, at unnecessary risk.
“The UK’s censorship crisis is the result of a longstanding failure by British politicians to vigilantly protect fundamental rights in the UK, while hypocritically claiming to champion them abroad," he said.
“We cannot consistently claim the UK is a bastion of free speech when law-abiding citizens like Livia are prosecuted for nothing other than peacefully offering to speak to people. What freedom do we have if citizens cannot offer a consensual conversation in a public space?
“Today, authorities are targeting conversations and even silent prayers they say are related to abortion. Tomorrow, it could be any other topic that goes against the mainstream perspective, as defined and policed by those in power. The slippery slope towards tyranny is clear. This is not how free and democratic countries should function."
He continued, "It is right for the US State Department and JD Vance to warn the UK that censorship is antithetical to freedom, democracy, and societal flourishing.”
Mr Igunnubole added: “The government must act to ensure that what is undoubtedly our most important diplomatic relationship is not put at risk due to an ideological commitment to censorship.”
In February, the state department criticised the arrest of Scottish Christian grandmother, Rose Docherty, for holding a sign in a Glasgow abortion clinic buffer zone that said “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want".
At the time, the state department said, "Freedom of expression needs to be protected. We call on governments, whether in Scotland or around the world, to respect freedom of expression for all.”
Abortion clinic buffer zones in Edinburgh were criticised by Vance in his Munich speech over the possibility that private prayer in individual homes may fall foul of the restrictions.
Green Party MSP Gillian Mackay, who authored the Scottish buffer zone law, later admitted in an interview that prayer in a private home within a buffer zone could be a crime depending “on who’s passing by the window”.
