Christian prosecuted for abortion clinic protest ‘had human rights violated’
A Christian preacher being prosecuted for holding a sign carrying a quote from the Bible outside an abortion clinic had his human rights infringed, his lawyer has said.
Stephen Green, 72, was prosecuted by Ealing Council for displaying a verse from the Book of Psalms outside MSI Reproductive Choices clinic on 6 Feb 2023.
His sign said: “Psalm 139:13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.”
The campaigner, supported by the Christian Legal Centre, is alleged to have broken a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) that prohibits “protesting, namely engaging in an act of approval/disapproval, with respect to issues related to abortion services”.
Mr Green accepts he was outside the clinic, but says he was perfectly within his rights to hold up the placard.
Rob Smith, defending, told Uxbridge magistrates court: “My client does not accept the charges brought against him.
“He does not believe his action meets the charges brought.
“In the event that they do, he cites in his defence articles 9, 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
“Article 9 is freedom of belief, Article 10 is freedom of expression and Article 11 is freedom of assembly.”
The PSPO, put in place by Ealing Council in April 2018, was the first “buffer zone” surrounding an abortion clinic to be introduced in the UK.
PSPO legislation is usually reserved for anti-social behaviour such as dog fouling, littering and alcohol and drug misuse.
Mr Green, a director of campaign group Christian Voice, was reported by a clinic employee who saw him reading aloud from a Bible.
A complaint was made to the police and, seven months later, Mr Green received a prosecution notice from Ealing Council.
If found guilty, Mr Green, of Pen-y-Bont, south Wales, could be sent to prison for six months or fined £1,000.
In January 2023, following an amendment to the Public Order Bill, buffer zones around abortion clinics were brought in nationally.
Politicians and campaigners have decried the introduction of the zones as deeply draconian measures that criminalise free speech and prevent vulnerable women from accessing alternatives to abortion.
‘Lamenting this loss of life’
Andrea Williams, the chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “It is worrying that a man in his 70s holding a sign with a Bible verse on it is now being treated as an ‘emergency’ situation by the police.
“Buffer zones are an oppressive part of the current culture which force consent and silence dissent. The effect of the PSPO is to criminalise any act of disapproval of abortion and to create an area where no discussion or even prayer relating to abortion is permitted.
“There have now been over 10 million abortions in the UK since abortion was legalised in 1967. That is a staggering number. That is almost twice the population of Scotland and more than the entire population of London. Millions of people would be alive today if abortion had not been legalised.
“Instead of lamenting this loss of life, we are industrialising it, making it ever easier to obtain abortion effectively on demand, and now we are criminalising dissent.
“We will stand with Mr Green as he seeks justice in this case.”
Mr Green will face a one-day trial at Uxbridge magistrates court on 19 Jan 2024.
He was granted unconditional bail.