Man fined for standing silently outside UK abortion clinic
Sebastian Vaughan-Spruce carried no sign and remained completely silent until approached by police officers who couldn't tell him what his crime was.
Sebastian Vaughan-Spruce, a 44-year-old landscape gardener and pro-life activist, was fined on May 16 in Birmingham, England over suspicion of his silent thoughts in violation of the "buffer zone" regulations enforced by local authorities, according to a video and press release provided to Fox News Digital by March for Life UK.
He carried no sign and remained completely silent until approached by officers, in which he clarified he was not praying silently in his head.
Police officers asked Vaughan-Spruce if he was "praying for the lives of unborn children" when he was found standing on a public street near the abortion facility in Kings Norton, Birmingham. When he asked officers what his alleged crime was, they asked him to move elsewhere.
Vaughn-Spruce said in a statement that it was "abhorrently wrong" that he was interrogated and issued a penalty for being pro-life and standing on a certain public street.
"Others were present there at the same time, yet I was singled out because of the beliefs I happen to hold," he said.
The so-called "buffer zones" are part of a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) implemented by Birmingham authorities, which criminalizes individuals perceived to be "engaging in any act of approval or disapproval or attempted act of approval or disapproval" in relation to abortion, including through "verbal or written means, prayer or counseling," the press release states.
Even though Vaughn-Spruce explained to officers that he wasn't praying, they issued him a fixed penalty notice for being present in the so-called "buffer zone."
March for Life UK claims the decision to fine Vaughn-Spruce contradicts recent draft guidance by the government's Home Office in December, which said an individual's presence in public space is not an offense and clarified that national "buffer zones" would not prohibit silent prayer or consensual conversations between adults within the zone. The draft guidance also states that police should not target those they believe to have pro-life views.
"The mere presence of someone in a Safe Access Zone with no indication they are going to engage with anyone accessing, providing or facilitating abortion services should never attract police action... Whilst presence is a necessary element of the offence, it does not by itself constitute the offense," the guidance states, according to March for Life UK.
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Vaughn-Spruce said the Public Spaces Protection Order has been used to punish "wrongthink."
"We’re told buffer zones are there to prevent harassment – and I firmly believe that nobody should ever be subjected to harassment, which is already illegal." he said. "But these regulations are now being misused to punish people for ’wrongthink’ing, in a public space in the UK."
Sebastian Vaughn-Spruce (March for Life UK)
"While police crack down on these peaceful activities, they expose a double standard where protesters on different ideological issues are allowed much wider scope to express their beliefs," Andrew Lewer MP (Member of Parliament) said in the press release.
"All our warnings about the effect buffer zones would have on free speech have come true," Sir Edward Leigh, MP, said, according to the March for Life UK press release. "We’ve seen a woman arrested twice for thinking and a Catholic priest charged and prosecuted. Both won in the courts but only after a long and needless legal battle that will have a chilling effect on free speech."
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After a six-month investigation, police in England decided not to bring charges against Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, the director of the UK March for Life and sister of Sebastian Vaughan-Spruce. Ms. Vaughan-Spruce had told police she "might" be praying silently when they asked why she was standing on a public street near an abortion facility that was included in a PSPO. Other individuals in the UK have been fined after standing or praying in front of or outside an abortion clinic.
The city of Birmingham declined Fox News Digital's request for comment.