The investigation into pro-life activist Isabel Vaughan-Spruce for “thoughtcrime” charges, after she silently prayed outside an abortion clinic in December 2022 and again in March 2023, has been dropped.
Vaughan-Spruce, the U.K. March for Life director, was approached by police officers outside of BPAS Robert Clinic in Birmingham, England, in December, with pictures of her standing outside the clinic. Footage showed them demanding to know if she had been praying outside of the clinic.
She replied that she “might be praying silently,” and in response, she was arrested and charged with violating the Public Spaces Protection Order, which makes it illegal for people to engage in behavior disapproving or approving of abortion in or around an abortion clinic, which includes “verbal or written means” like “prayer or counseling.”
After formal charges were dropped against Vaughan-Spruce, and a jury found her “not guilty” in February, she was arrested yet again in March, for once again silently praying in her mind, just weeks after a jury had ruled that she had committed no crime by doing so in the first place.
The investigation into Vaughan-Spruce, however, has now been dropped, with West Midlands Police issuing an apology for how long the investigation took, according to a press release from the Alliance Defending Freedom.
“This isn’t 1984, but 2023 – I should never have been arrested or investigated simply for the thoughts I held in my own mind. Silent prayer is never criminal,” Vaughan-Spruce said, according to the release. “I welcome West Midland Police’s decision to end their investigation and their apology for the time it took to do so, but it’s important to highlight the extremely harmful implications of this ordeal not just for myself, but for everyone concerned with fundamental freedoms in the UK.”
“What happened to me signals to others that they too could face arrest, interrogation, investigation, and potential prosecution if caught exercising their basic freedom of thought,” she concluded
In September, Home Secretary Suella Braverman published an open letter to police, telling them not to politicize criminal investigations, making a nod to Vaughan-Spruce’s situation by saying, “It is worth remembering that silent prayer, in itself, is not unlawful.”
“I am thankful to resume my practice of praying silently for women in crisis pregnancies,” Vaughan-Spruce said.
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