Trial set for British man who had offensive thoughts
A British military veteran facing criminal charges for praying silently near an abortion center early this year will start trial on November 16th, a UK court has decided.
Adam Smith-Connor was quietly standing with his back to an abortion center in Bournemouth in January when he was approached by law enforcement officers who asked him what he was doing.
“Well, I’m praying,” Smith-Connor answered.
An officer notified him that he was in an area governed by a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), otherwise called a “safe zone” or “censorship zone” which prohibits “protesting, namely engaging in any act of approval or disapproval or attempted act of approval or disapproval, with respect to issues related to abortion services, by any means. This includes but is not limited to graphic, verbal or written means, prayer or counselling.”
PSPOs are laws set by local government councils which regulate public activity to ward off “anti-social behaviour.”
Smith-Connor replied that he was aware prayer is outlawed in the vicinity.
“Can I ask what is the nature of your prayer today?” the officer asked.
The 49-year-old responded that he was praying for his dead son, who was killed by an abortion Smith-Connor had arranged twenty years prior.
The officer said they had to follow orders, and issued Smith-Connor a £100 ($127) fine for “the prayer that you’ve admitted to.” Smith-Conner was also criminally charged with breaching a public spaces protection order.
After pleading not guilty at Poole Magistrates’ Court Wednesday, Smith-Connor broke down in tears as he said he “did not approach anyone [and] did not speak to anyone.”
“Once you introduce content-based criminal prosecutions based on what somebody is thinking, then there really is no logical endpoint,” said Smith-Connor’s attorney Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) UK Legal Counsel Jeremiah Igunnubole. “Because anything, any viewpoint that goes against the prevailing norms of society today may well change to something else tomorrow.”
Smith-Connor’s encounter came the month after a British woman was searched and arrested for also mentally praying outside a closed abortion facility. The Crown Prosecution Service, which originally charged Isabel Vaughan-Spruce with “protesting and engaging in an act that is intimidating to service users,” later dropped the charges due to “insufficient evidence” but said they “may well start again” pending further evidence.
