Ms Vaughan-Spruce was first confronted by police for praying outside sn abortion clinic in Birmingham on December 6, 2022.<\/p>\n
-> MPs voted against amendment to allow ‘silent prayer’ outside abortion clinics
\n-> In a free vote, MPs rejected proposal by 116 votes to 299, with a majority of 183<\/p>\n
MPs rejected attempts to allow ‘silent prayer’ outside abortion clinics in England and Wales in the Commons yesterday, amid warnings new buffer zone measures risk making ‘thoughtcrime’ a reality.<\/p>\n
The Public Order Bill contains powers to make it an offence to interfere with, intimidate or harass women accessing, or people providing, abortion services.<\/p>\n
Protesters found guilty of breaching the ‘safe access zone’, which would extend 150 metres from clinics, could be fined.<\/p>\n
It comes after a Catholic woman was arrested on Monday for ‘silently praying’<\/a><\/span> outside an abortion clinic just weeks after being acquitted for the same offence<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Video shared online shows\u00a0Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, director of anti-abortion group March for Life UK, being arrested outside the BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham<\/a><\/span>\u00a0on Monday.<\/p>\n Officers ask Ms Vaughan-Spruce to ‘step outside the exclusion zone’ that exists around the clinic. However, she tells officers that she is ‘not protesting’ and ‘not engaging in any of the activities prohibited’.<\/p>\n Police respond: ‘But you’ve said you’re engaging in prayer, which is the offence’, to which she replies: ‘Silent prayer.’<\/p>\n West Midlands Police confirmed a 45-year-old woman had been arrested on suspicion of breaching a public space protection order (PSPO), following complaints from members of the public.<\/p>\n The arrest came just weeks after she was found not guilty by Birmingham Magistrates Court for silently praying outside the\u00a0 BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham<\/a><\/span>, on December 6.<\/p>\n