Current:Home > NewsBritain has banned protests outside abortion clinics, but silent prayer is a gray area-LoTradeCoin
Britain has banned protests outside abortion clinics, but silent prayer is a gray area
View Date:2024-12-24 08:05:43
LONDON (AP) — A British ban on protesting outside abortion clinics went into effect on Thursday, though it left a question mark over whether anti-abortion demonstrators who pray silently will be breaking the law.
The law, which applies to England and Wales, bars protests within 150 meters (164 yards) of clinics. Scotland and Northern Ireland, which make their own health policies, recently enacted similar bans.
The new rules make it an offense to obstruct someone using abortion services, “intentionally or recklessly” influence their decision, or cause “harassment, alarm or distress.” Offenders face a fine, with no upper limit.
The buffer zone rule was passed 18 months ago as part of the previous Conservative government’s Public Order Act, but wrangling over whether it would apply to silent prayer protests, and a change in government in July, have delayed it taking effect.
The Crown Prosecution Service says silent prayer near an abortion clinic “will not necessarily commit a criminal offense,” and police say they will assess each case individually.
Anti-abortion campaigners and religious groups argue that banning silent-prayer protests would be an affront to freedom of religion. But pro-choice campaigners say silent anti-abortion demonstrators are often intimidating to women entering clinics.
“It’s difficult to see how anyone choosing to perform their prayers right outside an abortion clinic could argue they aren’t attempting to influence people — and there are countless testimonies from women who say this makes them feel distressed,” said Louise McCudden, U.K. head of external affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices, one of Britain’s biggest abortion providers.
In March 2023, lawmakers rejected a change to the legislation proposed by some conservative legislators that would have explicitly allowed silent prayer within the buffer zones. The final rules are a potentially messy compromise that is likely to be tested in court.
Crime and Policing Minister Diana Johnson said she was “confident that the safeguards we have put in place today will have a genuine impact in helping women feel safer and empowered to access the vital services they need.”
But Bishop John Sherrington of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said the government had “taken an unnecessary and disproportionate step backwards” on religious freedom.
“Religious freedom includes the right to manifest one’s private beliefs in public through witness, prayer and charitable outreach, including outside abortion facilities,” he said.
Abortion is not as divisive an issue in the U.K. as in the U.S., where women’s access to terminations has been rolled back, and banned in some states, since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in 2022.
Abortion was partly legalized in Britain by the 1967 Abortion Act, which allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy if two doctors approve. Later abortions are allowed in some circumstances, including danger to the mother’s life.
But women who have abortions after 24 weeks in England and Wales can be prosecuted under the 1861 Offenses Against the Person Act.
Last year a 45-year-old woman in England was sentenced to 28 months in prison for ordering abortion pills online to induce a miscarriage when she was 32 to 34 weeks pregnant. After an outcry, her sentence was reduced.
veryGood! (8)
Related
- Amazon Prime Video to stream Diamond Sports' regional networks
- Vin Diesel accused of sexual battery by former assistant in new lawsuit
- Man fatally shot by Detroit police during traffic stop; officer dragged 20 yards
- More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza health officials say
- Disney Store's Black Friday Sale Just Started: Save an Extra 20% When You Shop Early
- Motor City Kwanzaa Kinara returns to downtown Detroit
- The war took away their limbs. Now bionic prostheses empower wounded Ukrainian soldiers
- Residents of Iceland village near volcano that erupted are allowed to return home
- Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn is ending her retirement at age 40 to make a skiing comeback
- Truck carrying gas hits railroad bridge and explodes as a train passes overhead
Ranking
- Reese Witherspoon's Daughter Ava Phillippe Introduces Adorable New Family Member
- Connecticut man gets 12 years in prison for failed plan to fight for Islamic State in Syria
- More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza health officials say
- Broadway's 10 best musicals and plays of 2023, including 'Merrily We Roll Along'
- Shaboozey to headline halftime show of Lions-Bears game on Thanksgiving
- Biden is pardoning thousands convicted of marijuana charges on federal lands and in Washington
- Florida police fatally shot man who burned 9-year-old boy he thought was demon possessed
- Developers want water policy changes in response to construction limits on metro Phoenix’s fringes
Recommendation
-
NY forest ranger dies fighting fires as air quality warnings are issued in New York and New Jersey
-
AP-Week in Pictures-North America
-
Probe: Doomed Philadelphia news helicopter hit trees fast, broke up, then burned, killing 2 on board
-
How to watch 'Love Actually' before Christmas: TV airings, streaming info for 2023
-
Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul referee handled one of YouTuber's biggest fights
-
'Ultimate dream' is marriage. But pope's approval of blessings for LGBTQ couples is a start
-
At Dallas airport, artificial intelligence is helping reunite travelers with their lost items
-
One person was injured in shooting at a Virginia hospital. A suspect is in custody