{"id":19688,"date":"2023-11-29T13:11:19","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T18:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=19688"},"modified":"2023-11-29T13:11:19","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T18:11:19","slug":"woman-arrested-for-silent-prayer-offers-a-stark-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/11\/woman-arrested-for-silent-prayer-offers-a-stark-warning","title":{"rendered":"Woman Arrested For Silent Prayer Offers a Stark Warning"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ADF UK \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A UK woman who was arrested for praying silently outside an abortion clinic is speaking out about her experiences. Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who is the co-director of March for Life U.K., has had several run-ins with the law after being found praying outside abortion clinics. Vaughan-Spruce went viral last year after a video surfaced of her being arrested by U.K. police for praying. In September 2022, the Birmingham City Council imposed a 150-meter (490-feet) exclusion zone outside of any abortion clinics, which forbade any form of protest or counseling, including prayer. That December, Vaughan-Spruce was arrested for the first time for praying. The case was dismissed in February, but she was arrested again for praying outside the facility in March, with video of the incident showing an <\/span>officer saying<\/span><\/a>, \u201cYou\u2019ve said you\u2019ve been engaging in prayer, which is the offense.\u201d That case was not dismissed until September of 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking to\u00a0<\/span>Faithwire<\/span><\/em><\/a>, Vaughn-Spruce says her legal troubles have continued, with her being threatened with a fine last month for praying outside the clinic again. She said the harassment has made her feel \u201cvulnerable.\u201d \u201cOn one level, it has been quite stressful in as much as it almost makes you feel quite vulnerable that the people who should be protecting your freedoms are the ones who seem [to be] attempting to deprive you of them,\u201d she said. She stated she has received support from people who agree with her beliefs and even those who don\u2019t. \u201c[T]hey still support my right and other people\u2019s right to be able to pray where they want to pray \u2014 people who say that they don\u2019t have any religious beliefs, but they still recognize that people\u2019s own private thoughts, whether they\u2019re directed towards their God or not, are their own business,\u201d she said. Her arrests underscore the growing concerns of religious freedoms being targeted. U.K. has delayed nationalized abortion \u201cbuffer zones,\u201d but it has been implemented locally. Free speech advocates say the language of the buffer zone laws makes it easy for religious freedoms to be violated. Several members of the U.S. Congress, led by Representative Chip Roy of Texas, wrote a letter to the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, urging the ambassador to monitor the U.K. \u201cThe U.K. is now on an unsettling path that could potentially result in existential threats to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and even freedom of thought,\u201d the letter began, remarking on the proposed buffer zone legislation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Vaughn-Spruce is not the only person to face legal troubles because of her religious beliefs. American-born street preacher Ryan Schiavo\u00a0<\/span>was arrested<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in June in Canterbury, England, for preaching at a Pride event. Schiavo claimed he wasn\u2019t aware of the Pride event until he arrived. \u201cIt was not until we arrived and \u2026 were headed into the city that we realized that there was an actual pride event going on, and it was quite oppressive. I mean, there were rainbow flags, rainbow signage, a lot of people dressed in rainbow [colors] and rainbows painted on faces,\u201d he told\u00a0<\/span>The Christian Post<\/span><\/em>. Schiavo was later released, but he offered a warning to other Christians about impending persecution. \u201cWe are not living in a fair and impartial society in America or in the United Kingdom. And the last line of defense is not the political realm. It\u2019s not the conservative media. It is the Church of Jesus Christ. And Christians have to be willing to suffer even if it means they lose their job, they lose friends, family doesn\u2019t understand them or even if they are put in jail or beaten up or killed, etc. Because ultimately, our first responsibility is to the Lord Jesus and to the truth, not to our own satisfaction and comforts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A UK woman who was arrested for praying silently outside an abortion clinic is speaking out about her experiences. Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who is the co-director of March for Life U.K., has had several run-ins with the law after being found praying outside abortion clinics. Vaughan-Spruce went viral last year after a video surfaced of her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":19691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWoman Arrested For Silent Prayer Offers a Stark Warning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A U.K. woman was arrested after saying a silent prayer at an abortion clinic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/11\/woman-arrested-for-silent-prayer-offers-a-stark-warning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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