The U.K. May Soon Restrict Pro-Life Speech

A bortion activists abroad are pressing forward into a foreboding new frontier: weaponizing the law to limit what you can do, say, or even think on public streets surrounding abortion clinics. Their efforts represent a kind of censorship that violates not only the right to free expression, but also the innermost sanctum of free thought.

Despite the American movement’s historic victory in the Dobbs case, in many parts of the world, it is growing more difficult, and sometimes even dangerous, to hold pro-life views. In the United Kingdom, praying in front of an abortion clinic could soon land you in jail for up to two years. Parliament is currently debating a sweeping “buffer zone” law that would restrict speech within a certain distance of the country’s abortion clinics. In a frantic effort to shore up abortion access at the expense of basic human rights, the law would impose a broad ban on “informing,” “advising,” “influencing,” “persuading,” and even “expressing an opinion” around places where women can obtain an abortion.

One need only look to the places where buffer zones already have taken root in the U.K. to understand what’s at stake. Five local councils have set up these zones, with street signs eerily demarcating the areas where free speech is restricted, listing illegal activities ranging from outright protesting to quiet prayer. Per the signs, if you have the audacity to kneel, sprinkle holy water, or cross yourself while praying too close to an abortion clinic, you’ll soon find yourself a criminal under the law.

Lest so-called buffer zones be confused with rightful means of keeping women safe, it should be pointed out that existing U.K. law includes very clear protections for women. Harassment is obviously illegal in the U.K., and authorities have the full power to protect women from it, including when they are near an abortion facility. The reality is that buffer zones have nothing to do with harassment, and are entirely disconnected from valid and welcome efforts to protect women from harm. What buffer zones do is crush civil liberties, and prevent pro-lifers from making genuine offers of help to women entering abortion clinics.

As debate over the new law mounts in Parliament, the U.K. has seen a surge of pro-life censorship in places with existing buffer zones. On November 24, 2022, women in Bournemouth, England, were confronted by local authorities for praying quietly together on a public street near an abortion clinic. Livia Tossici and her friend were urged to move on by “community safety officers” tasked with patrolling for violations of Bournemouth’s buffer-zone law. While the women were well outside the 150-meter zone in which prayer is legally prohibited, the officers deemed the women precariously close to the zone, and also noted concerns about their proximity to a local school.

This is but one example of a disturbing trend: the criminalization of public prayer in the U.K. Just last year, grandmother Rosa Lalor was arrested under Covid-lockdown laws for praying silently while out for a walk near an abortion facility. What’s happening in the U.K. provides irrefutable real-time evidence of the dangers of government censorship. It is a warning for us all.

Buffer zones, while absurd in and of themselves (as evidenced by the experience of the Bournemouth women), give rise to even greater legal absurdities, because they lack a logical end point. In Bournemouth, it’s now suspect to join together in quiet prayer beyond the perimeter of a restricted zone. What’s to stop that zone from being expanded to cover the entire town? Today, it’s an abortion facility, but tomorrow, it could be municipal buildings or shopping centers.

The freedoms of thought and expression are foundational to a free society, and buffer zones violate them. Moreover, they inevitably give rise to a culture of silencing and surveillance. Tell people when, where, and how they are allowed to express themselves and you’re well on your way to a robust dictatorship.

Should the U.K. move to roll out national buffer zones by passing the proposed new law, the societal cost will be immense. For those committed to praying for and showing a better path to women considering abortion, violating the law would constitute a crime, carrying with it a penalty of up to two years in prison. Many pregnant women would be deprived of the diverse offers of substantive assistance the pro-life community provides. And society at large would suffer a devastating blow to the fundamental freedoms inalienable to us all. As aptly put by Lord Michael Farmer of the House of Lords, “presented as a small and necessary step to protect women outside abortion centres, [this proposal] is, in fact, a giant and unnecessary leap away from our hard-fought civil liberties”.

While this fight is an ocean away for now, Americans should not complacently assume that our First Amendment safeguards against this happening here next. In fact, if the U.K. leads the charge in the policing of thought crimes, we can be sure abortion activists will try something similar here. As we navigate the storm of post-Roe America, we must be unyielding in our defense of all human rights, vigilantly safeguarding the fundamental freedoms that allow us to debate and discuss abortion — and to pray for a pro-life future.