by Michael Tennant, The New American:
A United Kingdom army veteran has been charged with a crime for silently praying outside an abortion clinic, despite the fact that police had told him he was “entitled” to do so.
The Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole (BCP) Council is one of five U.K. councils that have passed ordinances establishing “buffer zones” around abortion clinics. According to Christian Today, “The buffer zone forbids protesting, harassing, intimidating or photographing visitors or staff within 150 [meters] of the abortion clinic. The restrictions cover prayer, counseling and offering information or help to women visiting the clinic.”
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On November 24, Adam Smith-Connor prayed silently outside a Bournemouth abortion clinic, taking care to face away from the building “to avoid any impression of approaching or engaging with women using the facility,” reported the Alliance Defending Freedom UK (ADF UK), which is supporting Smith-Connor’s legal defense.
Smith-Connor says he was praying for the son he conceived with a former girlfriend more than two decades ago — a child whose abortion he bankrolled. That decision, he said, “now grieves me deeply.” He added that he “was praying also for those contemplating abortion, especially those in vulnerable situations who believe abortion is their ‘only choice.’”
The next month, Smith-Connor was issued a fixed penalty notice, which Wikipedia defines as “a notice giving an individual the opportunity to be made immune from prosecution for an alleged criminal offense in exchange for a fee.” Curiously, the pro-abortion authorities described Smith-Connor’s alleged offense as “praying for his deceased son,” indicating that abortion is indeed the taking of a human life.
Smith-Connor wasn’t about to pony up the extortion fee for a non-crime. Thus, wrote ADF UK, the BCP Council
issued a charge against Smith-Connor on 12th May 2023. Despite the Council being legally required to notify Smith-Connor of the summons as soon as possible, they did not do so, nor did they engage in any other form of communication with him until 19th July 2023 — eight weeks after the elapse of the statutory time-limit for charging him, and almost ten weeks after the charge was issued.
Smith-Connor was not brought in for questioning throughout the eight-month period which the council had to gather evidence. Had he been questioned under caution, he would have had an opportunity to give an account of his actions and [been] entitled to legal representation.
The charges brought by the Council come as a surprise, given that in a filmed encounter with police on another occasion in which Smith-Connor had silently prayed in the same spot, officers had informed him that he was not breaking the law, remarking, “this is England and it’s a public place and you’re entitled to do that.” [Emphasis in original.]
“Nobody should be prosecuted for silent prayer. It is unfathomable that in an apparently free society, I am being criminally charged on the basis of what I expressed silently, in the privacy of my own mind,” said Smith-Connor. “I served for 20 years in the army reserves, including a tour in Afghanistan, to protect the fundamental freedoms that this country is built upon. I continue that spirit of service as a health care professional and church volunteer. It troubles me greatly to see our freedoms eroded to the extent that thoughtcrimes are now being prosecuted in the U.K.”
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