Army veteran defends right to silent prayer outside abortion clinic
An Army veteran has gone on trial for silently praying outside an abortion clinic.
Adam Smith-Connor, a reservist who served in Afghanistan, is being prosecuted for breaching a ban on protests within a buffer zone around the clinic in Bournemouth.
He has, however, claims that he has the right to silently pray for an unborn son whom he now regrets aborting and that prosecuting him amounts to “criminalisng someone’s beliefs”.
His case comes as the Home Office is set to enact legislation that will ban protests including silent prayer within 150-metre buffer zones around abortion clinics from the end of October.
The clinic in Bournemouth has been previously targeted by protesters and was made the subject of a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in 2022 by the local council.
The order creates an area around the clinic so women visitors and staff members can come and go without being harassed and subjected to verbal abuse by pro-life campaigners.
Mr Smith-Connor, 51, was spotted behind a tree on a green in a public space about 50 metres from the entrance of the BPAS abortion clinic on Nov 24 2022.
He was approached by Catherine Brookfield, a council officer, who had observed him standing in silence for four or five minutes with his head slightly bowed and his hands clasped down in front of him.
In a video taken by Mr Smith-Connor, a chartered physiotherapist, she asked what he was doing and he replied: “I’m praying for my son who is deceased.”
Poole magistrates’ court heard he was still haunted by the decision he and his then partner made to abort their unborn child 24 years ago.
She responded: “My belief is you are here to engage in an act of disapproval of the work of the abortion clinic.”
She asked him to move on as he was within the buffer zone and acts of “prayer as disapproval” were prohibited by the PSPO.
Mr Smith-Connor refused and told her: “You are telling me that silent prayer is banned in this area? I’m praying in my mind and not approaching anyone. I’m entitled to pray silently for my dead son in a free country.”
Mr Smith-Connor, from Marchwood, Hants, was repeatedly warned he could face further action if he did not leave the buffer zone during their conversation, which lasted for more than 90 minutes.
He was subsequently issued with a £100 fine for breach of conduct on Dec 13 2022.
He did not pay it and so was charged with the criminal offence of failing to comply with a public spaces protection order under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. He denies the offence.
He broke down in court on Thursday as he said that he believed it was wrong for prayer to be criminalised in a “free nation”.
He said: “My son was aborted in Leeds 24 years ago. It is not practical for me to go to Leeds, so I go to a more local location to pray because my son lost his life within an abortion facility.
“I feel it’s important for me to go near that kind of location. Prayer is important and prayer shouldn’t be threatened in this great land, so I chose to go and practise this right.
“I think in a free nation you can do that, and prayer should not be criminalised.
“I and fellow servicemen made an oath to the King and country that our freedoms are upheld and defended. I am a law-abiding citizen.” The trial continues.
