A pro-life campaigner has been fined after refusing to move away from a ‘buffer zone’ outside an abortion clinic in Birmingham.
Two police community support officers from West Midlands Police told Sebastian Vaughan-Spruce that he was breaching a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) – even though he had reportedly been standing silently outside the clinic.
Under the Public Order Act, local authorities can impose abortion ‘buffer zones’ making it an offence to engage in any act which has the effect of ‘influencing any person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services’. Offenders face an unlimited fine.
In video footage available online, the officers can be seen interrogating Sebastian. The Telegraph reported: ‘In a three-minute exchange, he said he was not praying but was simply standing silently in the street.’
The officers could not coherently explain what actions they were concerned about but asked him to move from outside the exclusion zone. He refused to move, and a fine was issued.
Michael Robinson, executive director at SPUC, said: ‘The outrageous persecution of pro-life men and women continues in the UK. Hard-won liberties are being thrown out in favour of abortion ideology that now takes precedence over free speech and religious freedom. Thoughtcrime is now a terrifying reality.’
