A Christian woman, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who was previously arrested twice by local law enforcement for silently praying outside a closed abortion clinic in Birmingham, UK, and who won a $17,000 settlement from West Midlands Police in 2024 for wrongful arrests, has now been criminally charged for a third time.
The new charge stems from a national law (Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023), effective since October 2024, which prohibits “influencing any person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate abortion services” within 150 meters (about 500 feet) of abortion facilities.
According to a press release from ADF International, Vaughan-Spruce was charged after standing silently near the facility, with authorities alleging her presence amounted to prohibited influence. She is scheduled to appear in court on January 29, 2026.
West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service have criminally charged Isabel Vaughan-Spruce because she “stood outside” an abortion facility, where “influence” is prohibited.
The charitable volunteer has been under investigation since January for engaging in silent prayer on a public street near an abortion facility in Birmingham.
Last year we reported that after a six-month-long investigation, police dropped all charges against March For Life UK Director Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who they arrested late last year and charged with “protesting and engaging in an act that is intimidating to service users” for her silent prayers.
Following her arrest she sued the department and won her case. According to Christian Today:
The force settled with Isabel Vaughan-Spruce after she claimed wrongful arrests, false imprisonments, assault and battery in relation to the search of her person by officers, a breach of her human rights, and bail conditions branded “onerous” by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF UK) which supported her case.
Much like Canada has intolerably strict buffer zones around all abortion clinics that make it illegal to protest within 300 feet, punishing participants with a year of jail time for a first-time offense, some British buffer zones make it illegal to “harass” or “intimate” anyone within 450 feet of the building, which they considered the silent prayer to be.
Commenting on her arrest, Vaughan-Spruce offered:
“Despite being fully vindicated multiple times after being wrongfully arrested for my thoughts, it’s unbelievable that I have yet again been charged for standing in that public area, and holding pro-life beliefs. Silent prayer – or holding pro-life beliefs – cannot possibly be a crime. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought.”
